Top NFL doc not sure if league can start on time
Days after the NFL revealed its hopes of conducting a normal regular season and playoffs, its chief medical officer warns that nothing is a certainty during the coronavirus pandemic.
Dr. Allen Sills, a neurosurgeon who has been with the NFL since 2017, says he and other league and team medical personnel have been in constant communication with health officials throughout the country, looking at the same data they are using to make public recommendations. The NFL also has consulted with the other major sports leagues and the players’ union.
“We are not doing this in isolation,” Sills says. “I think the NFL is in the same place every element of society is. The hope is that soon much more widespread testing is available, which will be an essential part of restarting activities. You follow the science.”
The NFL has done that in its revisions to the draft in three weeks, which will be conducted remotely with no public events. It also has temporarily barred teams from using their facilities, meeting in person with free agents and draft prospects.
Beyond the draft, the league must decide on allowing offseason workouts and minicamps that usually occur in the spring. And then on training camps and the preseason. None of that is assured. “We have got to get a much better handle on the actual spread of this virus and how many new cases there are,” Sills explains. “How it is transmitted and how we can mitigate it. We have to get to the point that when someone is tested as positive to the virus, that does not mean an immediate quarantine. If that is the case, you can’t think about opening up a team sport.
“Like all other parts of society, we’re trying to listen to the best advice we can. It’s hard to project what will happen in a month, three months or six months No one knows. We have to do that which is not only in the best interest of the players, but league and team personnel and our fans. That is what is happening. All of our league executives have been in very regular contact with me. Every meeting starts with an update on the current medical situation.”