After an abnormally long offseason, NFL training camps are finally here. After a 29-3 vote by the players reps on each team, the NFLPA approved of the league’s Friday proposal to modify the CBA as a response to the expected shortfall of revenue due to the coronavirus pandemic.
After weeks of negotiations the two sides have agreed on the framework which will allow camps to open on time, with teams set to report to camp on July 28. Many protocols and processes had to be hammered out to reach the agreement, from roster sizes, opt outs and contingencies in case the season gets cancelled, with the most glaring an agreement on how the lowered revenue would impact salaries by limited future caps.
Back to football pic.twitter.com/o8AiZtSt7k
— Brian McCarthy (@NFLprguy) July 24, 2020
Training Camp Schedule
First reported by NFL Network’s Albert Breer, the following schedule for training camp was hashed out to begin on July 28 for all teams except the Houston Texans and Kansas City Chiefs.
Day 1 : Testing and virtual meetings
Days 2-3: Virtual meetings
Day 4: Testing and virtual meetings
Days 5-6: Physicals
Days 7-15: Strength and conditioning (with one day off)
Day 16: Begin Practice
Day 21: Begin padded practices
There will be 20 days of practice with 14 padded practices spread across them.
Rosters and Opt Outs
In recent years, the NFL has done away with the tiered roster cuts. When the league moved to 90-man offseason rosters, it has had just the final cuts to 53 prior to the regular season. In 2020, the cuts will be tiered with a trim down to 80 on August 16.
For players who opt out of participating, high-risk candidates will receive a $350,000 stipend and their contract will toll, per Pelissero. Voluntary opt-outs will receive a $150,000 salary advance and their contract will toll as well. Opt-outs are due within seven days of the deal being finalized, or July 31.
Practice squads, originally set to increase to 12 this season, will now be at 16.
In-Season Salaries
If the season is cancelled before training camp cuts are made, players who were on the team last season will get $250,000. If camp cuts take place, but the season is cancelled before the games start, all players who made the roster will make $300,000. (Dan Graziano, ESPN)
If the season begins, but cannot be completed, each player would make a prorated version of their base salary. (Mark Maske, Washington Post)
Future Salary Caps
The big one.
Conservative projections had the 2021 salary cap at $208 million. Some like trusted resource Over the Cap projected $215 million.
The NFL and NFLPA have now set a floor for the cap in 2021 at $175 million.
That’s right, up to $40 million could be missing from the cap. The league is going to take a huge revenue hit with no or limited fans in stands and concession and parking streams plummeting.
The NFL will spread the impact of any 2020 revenue shortfall over four years beginning in 2021. The salary cap will be at least $175 million in 2021, the league wanted to go as low as $165 million in 2021 and had suggested an $8 million reduction in cap for 2020, per NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero.