Union urging player boycott of minicamps

games has been reduced from four to three. But given the sharp decline in injuries and concussions, the merits of playing any preseason games will also be brought to the table.

“Everything has to be collectively bargained,” Tretter said on the media call. “Last year, [everything] had to be collectively bargained, and now we see what those changes brought us. There’s really no denying it anymore. You can avoid soft tissue injuries. You can avoid concussions. You can avoid heat-related illness. You can avoid those things by following the science.”

Tretter, who took over as NFLPA president last year in the most challenging season in NFL history, stressed that not much has changed since last season despite the league’s optimism for full stadiums and a return to normalcy.

“The NFL doesn’t get to decide when the pandemic is over or when we get to stop caring about COVID,” Tretter said. “COVID is still out there. Our players do not want to catch it still. There are plenty of guys who have talked about issues that they felt for a long time after catching COVID. Myles [Garrett] being one of them. He talked about it all year, about how he felt that it was still bothering him.

“Guys don’t want to catch something and make themselves vulnerable in the middle of unnecessary practices in the spring that could impact them during games in the fall. So the conversation about what should be going on post-COVID, I don’t even think we should go there right now.”

He said most people doubted the NFL could make it through the season without an NBA-style bubble, and crown a Super Bowl champion.

“And we did,” he said. “The fact that we have that plan, it would be a shame if we didn’t utilize what we know works.”

Tretter and Smith are also asking players not to organize group workouts on their own for a second straight season.

As for vaccines, despite the NFL’s recent decision not to mandate them for players, Smith said the NFLPA will encourage them.

“We have to do everything we can to make sure we message that the vaccines are safe,” he said. “This is one where I care more about what’s going on in the country than what’s going on in football world.”