Get ready for a crazy season everyone. On Friday, July 24, 2020, the NFL and NFLPA agreed to terms on modifications to the current collective bargaining agreement (CBA) due to the potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Here is a quick look at the key points of the new agreement:
New Schedule To Start
Day 1: Testing/virtual meetings.
Days 2-3: Virtual meetings.
Day 4: Testing/virtual meetings.
Days 5-6: Physicals.
Days 7-15: Strength and conditioning (with a day off.)
Day 16: Practice starts.
Day 21: First padded practice.
8-day strength and conditioning ramp-up
Rookies can start that ramp-up as soon as Monday
There are a maximum of 14 padded practices.
Things will start moving quickly for all teams around the league. For the Browns, players will be packing their backs and heading towards Cleveland for training camp on Tuesday, August 28, 2020.
All players must test negative twice in the span of 72 hours before they can enter their team facilities. Additionally, players will be tested every day for at least the first two weeks of camp and then every other day if the positivity rate dips below 5%.
Roster Size
There will be an August 16, 2020 cutdown from 90 players to 80 players. You will be required to have a split-quad if you are over 80 players.
Comments: This is not a great year to be a late-round rookie or a journeyman looking to endear yourself to a team. There just isn’t enough time for the stars to align and the Browns have a new front office and coaching staff in place.
Salary Cap Floor
The 2021 cap will have a floor of $175 million. The remaining losses would be spread out from 2022-2024. The 2020 cap is currently at $198.2 million.
Don’t forget about the salary cap rollover. Currently, the Browns have $38 million available in the rollover cap. What does this mean? It means the Browns can enter the 2021 offseason with little impact on their overall roster due to the potential lowering of the 2021 salary cap. Unfortunately, this does likely mean a lot of restructuring of contracts or cutting/trading of players who hold flexible contracts.
Comments: For the Browns, there is plenty of flexibility throughout the entire roster. Odell Beckham, Sheldon Richardson, and Jarvis Landry all have contracts the Browns can do something with to create cap space. Additionally, the Browns have ten NFL draft picks in 2021. Draft picks will be at a premium value-wise due to other franchises being in dire cap straights. It should also be noted, this is the floor. If there is additional money that becomes available, the salary cap can go up.
This was a massive miss by the NFLPA. The previous salary cap projections had the cap above $200 million and continuing a growth of about 6%. A reduction of over $20 million will be devastating for some franchises overall.
Pay For Play
Very simply, if there is no 2020 NFL season or if the NFL season is cut short, players are only paid for the games played. However, guarantees will still be owed to players, from their base salaries, in future years.
Comments: Nothing Browns-specific to add here.
The Opt-Out Clause
Any player may opt-out of the 2020 season with written notice by August 1, 2020. There are two types of opt-outs, which are irrevocable and due seven days from the agreement being finalized:
- High risk: $250,000 stipend with no offset, accrued/credited season
- Voluntary: $150,000 salary advance, no accrued/credited season.
Players will not be allowed to opt-out during the season.
Comments: The next week will be very telling for what the Browns 2020 season looks like. While the Browns have a very talented roster, they have overall depth chart issues and can’t afford too many losses on the season.
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These are only considered loans from the team and the contracts “toll” (move to the next year) in both cases. So, if a player makes $350,000 this year, the money has to be paid back in future salaries.
Practice squads expanded from 12 to 16 players.
This is a big change and chance for NFL players. Along with the four additional players, six of the players can have unlimited accrued seasons. In addition, the NFL has also discussed the possibility of allowing an unlimited amount of players to return from injured reserve and non-football injury lists this season.
Comments: Due to COVID-19 there is no saying how injuries will impact the overall season. The ability to allow teams to put players on and take players off injured reserve creates better overall roster flexibility throughout the season.