Tuesday night Darren Waller held a charity event. That’s all it should have been about was raising money for a good cause. Instead, the event was held indoors during the COVID-19 pandemic, breaking state regulations on indoor gatherings and potentially exposing Raiders players to unnecessary risk.
The event broke city and state rules on indoor gatherings and the country club where the event was held has been fined $2,000 by the City of Henderson for those violations, according to an AP report.
Shortly after the event, a video was released showing several Raiders players at the event not wearing masks and mingling with attendees also not wearing masks.
Among the players there along with Waller included QB’s Derek Carr and Nathan Peterman, TE’s Jason Witten, Foster Moreau, and Derek Carrier, WR Zay Jones, and CB Nevin Lawson.
“I feel like we’ve done a fantastic job around here and I hate that a few moments without our masks on led to a story about our team and all this stuff,” Derek Carr said in a statement over video conference Wednesday. “Especially after the fines that were brought on a couple weeks ago. So, we felt terrible about that. We addressed it, we talked about with coach and we talked with our trainers about what really went down and all that kind of stuff. But at the end of the day, we were.
“Shoot, guys, I have to have dinners and dates with my wife at my house. I haven’t taken her out to eat all season. And that’s a lot of kids running around my house and I think she’s ready for a date.
“So, we’re been doing our very best and we had a few moments where we slipped up, took the mask off, so people could see our face and things like that. We signed waivers, hand sanitizer like crazy, all this kind of stuff, even after the event with everything. And we weren’t perfect, but we were trying our best. We weren’t trying to be careless. But at the same time, Darren Waller had an event for something that meant a lot to him.”
Waller’s event was to raise money to help people fight addiction. According to Jon Gruden, it raised over $300,000. It’s just a real shame that was overshadowed by the players not wearing their masks at all times as they should.
“My hope and my prayer is that a few minutes where we were seen on camera in a private not in the private room, in the separate room for an hour, I hope that we don’t lose what was really going on there,” Carr continued. “Because Darren had a great idea, he had a great plan, he wants to help people, that we can just more so move the conversation that way. Again, we addressed it in-house. We should’ve kept the mask on even if we are coming and they’re introducing us and things like that.”
Aside from the obvious ramifications from getting the virus, there is the matter of potential NFL punishments. The NFL is looking into the event as we speak.
The NFL said today it is "looking into the matter" after several #Raiders players attended charity event Monday that violated COVID-19 rules https://t.co/WEFRyEkha2
— Josh Dubow (@JoshDubowAP) September 30, 2020
It’s unknown exactly what kind of ramifications could occur from this. Other than, of course, the players put themselves at risk of catching and spreading the coronavirus. Jon Gruden and the club have already been fined for Gruden not wearing his mask properly on the sideline during games early this season. But otherwise, Gruden was feeling good about how the team was handling the protocols.
“We’ve done an excellent job. Last night it was addressed with our players,” Gruden said over video conference call Wednesday. “They walked in with their masks on to the event. Sometimes you go to a restaurant, take your mask off. They’re aware of their mistake. But we have done an excellent job using our masks and taking the proper care of each and everybody. . . they may have let their dobber down a little bit by taking their mask off during the event, but it’s been addressed and that’s the best I can tell you.”
We do know that should anyone on the team or anyone at the event test positive, it could mean the temporary cancellation of in-person activities at minimum. We know this because it just happened this week to the Titans and Vikings after several players and coaches tested positive for coronavirus following their game on Sunday and the Titans-Steelers game originally scheduled for next Sunday has now been postponed to Monday or Tuesday.
“We all understand that this is a terrible, terrible virus,” Gruden added. “We have to do our part. We’re all vulnerable. It unfortunately sounds like a few people got the virus. I just wish the best for everybody in Tennessee. It does certainly get yourself awakened that it can get anybody at any time.”
With the way the players and coaches have talked about the disease and their protocol, you would have thought they would’ve been more responsible in such a situation. It is definitely disappointing especially considering how well the NFL as a whole has handled it up to this point.
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