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Over the past few weeks and months I’ve had numerous friends ask me if I thought the NFL would come back as scheduled this season. I feel like I don’t know how anything is going to go anymore so I would always tell my friends the same thing – I have no clue.
What I do know is this week things will get very serious for the NFL and its players, as rookies are due to report at the beginning of the week, quarterbacks and injured players are due in on Thursday, and a majority of the training camps will start on July 28th.
Those dates, however, don’t seem like sure things judging by the rightful concerns the players have about how the league is handling COVID-19 protocols. Many star players lit up the NFL on Sunday with coordinated tweets about how they are still concerned about how the NFL is going about keeping players safe and healthy.
Russell Wilson tweeted about how his wife, Ciara, is pregnant and that there is still no clear plan on the health and safety of players.
Cowboys star DE DeMarcus Lawrence and his wife are in the same boat as Wilson and Ciara and Lawrence might not report to camp.
That is not good. At all. The NFL had the longest time of all the big sports to figure out ways to keep players healthy during this global pandemic and here we are just a few days before players report and the league is looking as bad as MLB did just a few weeks ago.
J.J. Watt updated fans on Sunday, tweeting about the things the players haven’t heard from the NFL. Watt’s list included: They don’t know if the league will do tests daily, every-other-day, etc. They don’t know if there will be fair opt-out clause for players who are more at risk or have family members that are high risk. They don’t know if there will be preseason games. And they still don’t know how positive tests will be handled.
Yikes.
Has the NFL spent this whole time just thinking things would go away, like the dude who’s currently in charge of this country? Because if so, that is highly naive and incredibly stupid and could put even an attempt to start this season in serious jeopardy.
The NFL has never really seemed to care all that much about the safety of its players but this is taking things to a whole new level and Roger Goodell should be embarrassed yet again by how his league continues to stumble through very serious situations.
I want the NFL to come back. I need the NFL come back. But we all should want it to be done the safest way possible for the players and their families. That is the most important thing here and there isn’t a close second.
It’s going to be a wild few days for the league.
Don’t screw this one up, NFL.
Sunday’s biggest winner: Jon Rahm.
Jon Rahm became the No. 1 player in the world with his win at the Memorial on Sunday but it didn’t come without some controversy as he was called for a two-shot penalty after sinking an incredible hole out on the 16th hole. He learned about that ruling on live TV after the round and his reaction was pretty perfect.
Quick hits: Kyle Busch’s awesome answer… Lewis Hamilton calls out F1… Mark Zuckerberg’s plentiful sunscreen… And more!
– Kyle Busch had the best answer after driving through the grass at Texas during Sunday’s race.
– The legendary Lewis Hamilton called out F1 and F1 teams for lack of commitment to anti-racism after his win on Sunday.
– Mark Zuckerberg put a ton of sunscreen on his face and Twitter roasted him for it.
– Phil Mickelson attempted a 231-foot putt from the fairway on Sunday, because of course he did.
– Is NASCAR driver Jimmie Johnson jinxed? Some of his fans think so.