The NFL has lifted its moratorium on tryouts, enabling the Kansas City Chiefs to bring free agents to showcase their talents at team facilities. That means the Chiefs could see some movement at the bottom of the roster or with some remaining free agents they’ve been hoping to bring in for tryouts and physicals. This will help the team establish a good call list of players for the 2020 season as well.
NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero broke the news of the NFL’s decision, sharing the memo on tryouts sent to NFL teams. As the league continues to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, the resurgence of tryouts comes with certain stipulations. For instance, free agents must pass two COVID-19 tests before they’re allowed on the field at a team facility for a tryout or in the building for a physical examination.
Here’s more from today’s memo on the NFL lifting the prohibition on tryouts, including free agents needing to pass two COVID-19 tests before they’re allowed on the field, keeping them away from players on the roster, and limit to eight players trying out per day. pic.twitter.com/ThMS2HZCNe
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) August 11, 2020
Some of the additional stipulations for in-person tryouts at club facilities are as follows:
- Teams aren’t allowed to have any player on the roster participate in the tryout or interact with the tryout player. This seems to mitigate any potential risk of exposing players to the virus. Other players aren’t even allowed to be present at the team facility when the tryout occurs.
- Teams can only have a total of eight players in for tryouts on a given day.
- Teams are allowed to have the same player in for a tryout up to four times during the 2020 NFL season. That number can reset for if a given player is signed and then terminated by another club or tests positive for COVID-19 during their initial visit.
At the end of the day, the NFL is doing what they can to keep things normal in terms of providing free agents opportunities to sign with teams and keep rosters across the league competitive. They’re also making sure that they eliminate any risk of contaminating the pseudo-bubbles they’ve created for each of the 32 NFL teams during the course of training camp.
[vertical-gallery id=74619]