With less than three weeks to go before NFL teams are scheduled to report to their facilities for training camp, there’s some mixed messaging happening regarding the 2020 preseason.
On Monday, team general managers and coaches were told that camp dates “should remain as scheduled,” according to NFL.com. But what actually happens once players report- on July 28 for most clubs- is now a matter of debate. And the debate is heating up quickly.
If the players have their way, there won’t be 2020 preseason games at all. Their union representatives have voted unanimously to cancel all preseason games this year.
Here’s the resolution the NFLPA board of representatives passed Thursday, calling on the NFL to cancel all 2020 preseason games: pic.twitter.com/Y8ApvxEBYs
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) July 7, 2020
The Hall of Fame Game, originally slated for August 6 and featuring the Cowboys and Steelers, was canceled late last month. Last week, word trickled out that Weeks 1 and 4 of the preseason would be scrapped as well, although that move still has not been made official. Playing just two exhibition contests would allow both a longer ramp-up for rosters before live game action and a longer cool-down before the regular season, as clubs navigate new Covid procedures.
“The league does not believe it needs the union’s approval to set its preseason schedule,” ESPN’s Dan Graziano notes, “although the players would argue that the changes in work rules brought on by the pandemic allow them the right to be involved in the decision.”
To that end, the NFL Players Association has proposed its own four-stage preparation plan that would replace the traditional slate of preseason games.
As per NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero:
“The first stage would be medical physicals for all players upon reporting to camp, which would last three days. The following 21 days would make up the second stage, a strength and conditioning program to prepare the players’ bodies for a return to football activity. From there, teams would move to a third stage that would resemble OTAs in which players would participate in 10 days of non-contact, non-padded practices before eventually shifting to a 14-day fourth stage that would be focused on what camp traditionally looks like, with potentially 10 total practices with a maximum of eight padded practices.
“That total of 48 days would immediately precede Week 1, replacing preseason games with the longer preparation period desired by the NFLPA.”
While the players- and most fans- wouldn’t exactly miss games that don’t count, the league’s owners have long clung to them as bonus moneymaking events at their stadiums’ turnstiles and are reluctant to simply give them up, even under the extraordinary circumstances of a global pandemic. Under a two-game preseason format, discussions had been in the works to give each team one home and one away game as a way to not only placate owners, but also to allow each stadium crew a dry run of Covid procedures and give each team a chance to practice travel logistics.
The Cowboys are slated to face the Ravens and the Chiefs in Weeks 2 and 3 of the preseason, respectively. Both were initially to be home games played at AT&T Stadium.
But now, with the league telling teams to stay on schedule and the players union proposing an entirely alternate preseason itinerary, things could get heated as the dog days of summer approach.
NFLPA president and Cleveland Browns center JC Tretter had this to say in a blogpost explaining the union’s recommendation to nix preseason games.
“Every decision this year that prioritizes normalcy over innovation, custom over science or even football over health, significantly reduces our chances of completing the full season.
“We don’t want to merely return to work and have the season shut down before we even get started. The NFLPA will do its part to advocate for player safety. We will continue to hold the NFL accountable and demand that the league use data, science and the recommendations of its own medical experts to make decisions. It has been clear for months that we need to find a way to fit football inside the world of coronavirus. Making decisions outside that lens is both dangerous and irresponsible.”
I wasn’t very optimistic after the last call. Let’s hope we have more answers and clarity today… https://t.co/f7cki6QPns
— Randall Cobb (@rcobb18) July 7, 2020
While at the time of this writing, there has been no official response from the league, the stage is potentially being set for a major standoff before anyone even straps on shoulder pads.
The NFL isn’t commenting on NFLPA president J.C. Tretter’s post, but a league source called it “very disappointing and contrary to the sense of collaboration going back to the early days of mid-March,” pointing to agreements on joint practices, no fans at camp, protocols, etc.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) July 7, 2020
Pelissero puts it plainly: “A fight with the NFLPA over preseason games is just getting started.”
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