All NFL facilities have been shut down since March due to the coronavirus pandemic and there’s no guarantee they will reopen any time soon.
Although the league has advised teams to prepare to reopen their facilities on May 18, they are ultimately at the mercy of federal and state orders. And with several stay-at-home orders around the country being extended, it has forced teams to prepare contingencies for not only minicamps and OTAs, but training camp as well.
During a Zoom call with reporters on Tuesday, New York Giants head coach Joe Judge acknowledged that preparations are being made to potentially move the team’s training camp out of East Rutherford, New Jersey.
“We’re assuming right now that we’re going to continue working virtually with the players. We’ll wait for further clarity from the league. We were told to plan through May 18, so that’s what we’re doing right now,” Judge said. “In terms of relocating, our Ops department is doing a great job right now mapping out a lot of different scenarios in terms of if for some reason we have to relocate, they’re making connections around the area, around the country, as to whatever we may need to do.
“We’re waiting on direction from the league in terms of when we’ll make decisions on that. Hopefully in a perfect world, we’re all back together in New Jersey training sooner than later. But we’re planning for a lot of hypotheticals to make sure if they come up, we’re not caught by surprise.”
Ultimately, Judge says, the health of his players is of the utmost importance and that will be considered in any decision the team makes, including where and how they hold camps.
“I think right now with the climate of the country, one thing we have to consider is, first off, the safety of our players traveling across the country. Getting on flights, traveling through cars. There is a lot of mandated quarantines that come with that as well, so the timeliness factor of getting players, having them travel, the amount of time they’re quarantined, getting them in the building, can we secure that they’re going to be quarantined along with all of the staff and coaches that are surrounding them, whether that’s in our facility or somewhere else?” Judge said.
“There are a lot of logistical things we have to consider. The first thing we talked about in all of these conversations is are we 100 percent certain the players are going to remain healthy and we’re not putting anybody at risk. I have a tough time right now asking a player to fly across the country from California when I probably wouldn’t be the first one most willing to throw my two sons on a plane to go the other way.
“We talk about this, we have to consider the big picture of what’s going on. Look, I would love to have them in Jersey right now. I would love for us to have setup remote camp if that’s what was necessary. But getting them to the campus and making sure that while we’re there they’re not exposed to anything, we have to consider that as well.”
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has expressed a desire to reopen the state, but insists “data determines dates.” Currently, there is no concrete date in mind for New Jersey, but interestingly, there is one in upstate New York.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said on Monday that parts of upstate New York will begin to reopen on May 15 and that other counties will soon follow. Currently, Albany County, where the Giants held training camp from 1996 through 2010 and then again in 2012, is not among those slated to reopen, but it’s possible UAlbany becomes available before the Quest Diagnostics Training Center does.
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