The NFL codified on paper their guidelines on how teams should address COVID-19. Problem solved.
For the teams, including the Houston Texans, the solution begats fresh new problems.
The Houston Chronicle’s John McClain presented a bevy of conundrums the defending AFC South champions will have to address starting with training camp in July.
One of the mandates from the NFL is lockers should be six feet apart. McClain masterfully outlined how that rule alone would be extremely difficult to honor.
One guideline that is going to be impossible to follow is keeping players 6 feet apart. Their locker room at the stadium is huge, but it’s too small for a training camp roster of 90 players.
Additional lockers have to be set up in the middle of the room, and players trip over each other and their gear trying to get to the shower, weight room and training room. It’s so crowded reporters aren’t allowed inside until the roster is reduced to 53 before the season.
The Texans can’t set up lockers outside in the hallway because they’d risk getting run over by golf carts, trucks and the occasional forklift that goes by.
According to McClain, the Texans also do not own NRG Stadium as they are co-tenants with the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. It makes the Texans’ ability to meet every one of the NFL’s criteria that much more difficult.
Coach and general manager Bill O’Brien has a desire to win games, but not at the expense of people’s lives.
“We can’t be in a rush,” O’Brien told reporters on April 16. “I think life as we know it is going to change and we can’t be in a rush. We’ll play football at some point. We will definitely play football. When that is, who knows, but we’ll just keep doing what we have to do to stay up with the competition and when they tell us to get ready to play, we’ll try to get ready to play.”
Expect the Texans to work with the league on COVID-19 safety.