With concerns about the spread of the coronavirus, the NFL has established rules to handle free agent signings and offseason activities.
The league announced changes to physical exams for free agents and a postponement of offseason programs.
From the press release:
During the upcoming free agency period, which begins on the afternoon of Wednesday, March 18, NFL clubs may not bring any free agent player to a club facility or other location to meet with club personnel. Further, club personnel, including members of the club medical staff, may not travel to any location to meet with or conduct a medical examination of a free agent player.
The NFL and NFLPA are developing protocols that will provide clubs with opportunities to review a free agent player’s medical records from his prior club(s) and to arrange for a free agent player to have a medical exam in the player’s home city or at another nearby location. These steps are consistent with those announced last Friday for club contact with draft-eligible college players.
A player can decline the neutral location physical but contracts and bonuses may not be valid or paid until the exam is done, whether at the neutral location or at the team facility once the closure is lifted.
Team facilities are also closed to all players with one exception — those undergoing medically-supervised rehabilitation and treatment — for the next two weeks.
Offseason programs, including offseason training, organized team activities and minicamps have been postponed indefinitely. The league is organizing protocols for cleaning and disinfecting of team facilities.
So the league year begins, but actual football activities will not for a while.
Offseason programs were scheduled to begin originally on April 6 for teams with new head coaches and April 20 for the rest of the league.
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Ep. 261
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Ep. 260
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