Drew Brees, Saints leadership call out NFL’s COVID-19 response

New Orleans Saints QB Drew Brees and teammates Malcolm Jenkins, Demario Davis, and Michael Thomas criticized the NFL’s handling of COVID-19.

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Drew Brees joined many of his New Orleans Saints teammates in putting the NFL on blast for its response to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, lending their voices to a wide range of posts from members of the NFL Players Association.

According to NFLPA President JC Tretter, these messages are protesting the league’s lackluster response to expert recommendations in the interest of player health and safety. One example cited by Bleacher Report’s Master Tesfatsion is a lack of NFL policy should a team facility record multiple infections, or if a player or their family member becomes seriously ill. That’s in addition to possible impacts on the NFL salary cap in future years due to depressed revenue in the 2020 fiscal year, which could end up costing players jobs.

Another snag in negotiations was brought up by NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero; a joint medical committee suggested the NFL institute a 21-day acclimation period before training camp so that everyone can adjust to new health and safety protocols, but league ownership wants to limit that to just 14 days. Additionally, the players union wants to eliminate preseason games altogether, while the NFL is set on shortening the exhibition series to just two weeks of games.

All of these points of contention and more were raised by Brees, Malcolm Jenkins, Michael Thomas, Demario Davis, and other big names in New Orleans and around the NFL. Regardless of their personal focuses, the central point remains the same from all of them: they want to play, but with the assurance that the NFL is doing everything it can and using all of its resources to protect people.

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