Two Dolphins discuss life as unvaccinated NFL players
The rules are vastly different for unvaccinated NFL players, including at least two Dolphins, tight end Adam Shaheen and wide receiver Preston Williams.
Dolphins players can spend their four days off this week essentially doing anything and going anywhere they wish.
Except the unvaccinated.
For the few players on the team who have opted not to get the COVID-19 vaccine, they will remain stuck in South Florida, prisoners to NFL protocols while vaccinated teammates frolic most anywhere they choose.
The NFL’s unvaccinated — who comprise about 5 percent of the league’s employed, active player pool — live by a different set of rules.
They must be tested every day; vaccinated players have been testing weekly except the week after Thanksgiving, when they tested on Monday and Wednesday.
So for the unvaccinated, forget any thought of venturing to some Caribbean island when Dolphins players are off
Thursday through Sunday. Even a trip inside the state, to Sanibel Island or the Keys, would be foiled by the need to return to team headquarters every day to be tested.
At least two Dolphins players — tight end Adam Shaheen and receiver Preston Williams — haven’t been vaccinated, which has made NFL life significantly more difficult for them.
For example: Williams said unvaccinated players must arrive two hours before their teammates to get daily COVID-19 tests. They are barred from entering the facility until the results of their rapid
PCR lab tests come in, which can take as long as 45 minutes.
“Every morning I’m sitting in my car 30 to 40 minutes waiting for my test to come back,” Williams said.
Williams said the unvaccinated players are not permitted to leave the state on long weekends or during this week’s bye.
So do these rules and restrictions ever make them re-evaluate getting vaccinated?
No, Williams said. “Ain’t got time to get the shot,” he said. “I’ve kind of adapted to it. I
have to be here two hours before everybody, have to be swabbed every day.
But it’s the rules. It would be cool to be tested two or three times a week” instead.
He concedes the daily testing is annoying but said he won’t miss going away this weekend because “I’m a homebody. That’s cool.”
Shaheen also said he hasn’t had any second thoughts about not getting the shot.
“I get it; I get why they’re doing it,” he said of the NFL’s strict rules for the unvaccinated. “They want to keep the
NFL rolling. For [unvaccinated players], there’s a lot of extra stuff, but it is what it is.
“It’s my decision and I’m thankful to be in a position to make my own decision.”
If an unvaccinated player were to miss a test any day, he would be required to get a negative test on five consecutive days before being permitted to play in a game or re-enter the facility to practice.
The rules for the two sets of players — the vaccinated and unvaccinated — are dramatically different. Consider:
Unvaccinated players who come into close contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19 must quarantine for five days. Vaccinated players are not required to quarantine.
Unvaccinated players must avoid being in close proximity to teammates during meetings and other indoor interaction. Vaccinated players face no such rules.
Unvaccinated players must mostly stay in their rooms on road trips; unlike their teammates who got the shot, they can’t eat at restaurants or mingle with friends or teammates.
Steam rooms and saunas are closed to the unvaccinated.
Unvaccinated players must wear their masks when they work out indoors, unlike their vaccinated teammates.
Unvaccinated players may not sit within six feet of teammates in the cafeteria. If they’re at a team function off-site, they can’t gather in groups of four or more.
The rules also differ for players who test positive for COVID-19.
Unvaccinated players who test positive must isolate for 10 days away from the team facility.
Fully vaccinated players who are within the first six days of quarantine after a confirmed positive test can return to the facility once they have received two consecutive negative PCR tests taken at least 24 hours apart and have been asymptomatic for 48 hours.
As a team, the Dolphins haven’t had a player on the COVID-19 list since Sept. 6, when Austin Jackson and Shaheen went on the list. That’s a byproduct of the staff, coaches and players being vigilant, combined with a dollop of good fortune.
“We’ve been lucky not to have too many issues,” Shaheen said. “You’ve got to give credit to the guy who runs the protocols, [athletic trainer] Kyle [Johnston].
“We’re near the top of league of not having many cases.”