NFL stars call on the league to provide coronavirus answers in #WeWantToPlay Twitter campaign

Several NFL stars have taken to Twitter with the #WeWantToPlay Twitter hashtag to singe the league for a lack of coronavirus preparation.

As the NFL comes ever closer to the opening of training camps — the Chiefs and Texans are scheduled to open theirs in limited fashion tomorrow — several star players have come together to insist that the league provide more definite and coherent answers regarding testing and preparation for the coronavirus pandemic.

League-wide, all rookies are scheduled to report on July 21, quarterbacks and injured players on July 23, and all other players on July 28. The Chiefs will have their rookies and quarterbacks report earlier, as will the Texans with their rookies, because the two teams are supposed to open the regular season on Thursday, September 10.

But for any of that to happen in a sensible fashion, the NFL and the NFLPA have a lot to work out, and it’s abundantly clear that some of the biggest names in the league are concerned about the notion that there are far too many things still up in the air. Several of those players have taken to Twitter with the #WeWantToPlay hashtag, which suggests a coordinated campaign on the part of the players’ association to enhance awareness of where things stand.

Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson:

Saints quarterback Drew Brees:

Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes:

Saints defensive back Malcolm Jenkins:

Bills receiver Stefon Diggs:

Dolphins cornerback Byron Jones:

Eagles cornerback Darius Slay:

Browns defensive lineman Larry Ogunjobi:

Browns receiver Jarvis Landry:

Texans defensive lineman J.J. Watt:

On a conference call with national football media on Friday, NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith, Assistant Executive Director of External Affairs George Atallah, and President JC Tretter (who is also the center for the Cleveland Browns) expressed serious concerns with the logjams in testing schedules, acclimation periods to get into football shape, the number of preseason games, and several other crucial issues.

As Tretter said, part of the problem is that some coaches are already balking at the additional complications, defaulting to a “herd immunity” mentality that has already exacted tragic consequences nationwide.

“We’ve had coaches come forward and talk about protocols being too much to ask, coaches come forward and saying they think everybody is going to get sick and we’ll just see how sick they get,” Tretter said. “Those attitudes can’t happen because this is all of us in this together. No one can just wish this away or just expect this to go away. There are consequences for getting sick. There are consequences players’ families have to face, and that’s my job as representative of the players is to try to provide as safe a workplace as possible and be able to tell my wife, talk to other players’ families, and let them know all we’ve done to try to make this as safe as possible for their husbands and their families when they have to come home from work. So, this is all about making the right decisions.”

Rams left tackle Andrew Whitworth, who was also on the call, doesn’t need to be told how contagious coronavirus can be, and how quickly things can spread.

“We had a family member that simply went to lunch with a friend and, innocent as it can be, and a couple days later we’re traveling all together and she started to not feel well and ended up deciding to go get a test. Next thing we know, she had it. A couple days later, my wife and I had it. A couple days after that, our kids had it. So, we were about seven for seven at that point. And unfortunately we had just visited my wife’s family and we were traveling with them as well and her mom and dad both got it. Obviously people of an older age it’s much — it seems to be much tougher, and it was on them. And unfortunately her dad got to a state where he had to be hospitalized.

“Luckily for us, such blessings we got him home about four or five days ago. He’s home with us now and we’re very blessed to have him and him be okay. But it was definitely a scary thing and realized how contagious this really is. It doesn’t make and it can spread like wildfire. For us, it’s affected us personally. It’s scary. But for our family and our kids, we ended up okay and everything seemed to go pretty normal, pretty mild case, but for her parents it wasn’t that way.”

Smith has had to look at the big picture, and how much remains unwritten.

“On the frequency of testing, we believe that daily testing is important, especially given some of these hot spots, and right now we don’t plan on changing that position,” Smith said. “It doesn’t mean that we won’t continue to talk about it, but we were clear about our belief that daily testing is going to be necessary and we’re always open to the plans to make our players as safe as possible. As far as daily testing, that’s where we are.

“The other sticking points about preseason… we have two concerns about the preseason. First, the joint task force agreed on an acclimation period for our guys to get them ready for football, and a lot of that frankly was influenced by what we learned coming back into camp after the 2011 season and the number of injuries, the spike in injuries because we didn’t feel there was the right acclimation. So, we’re going to insist and continue to fight for the right acclimation period. Preseason impacts that, but also the other issue about preseason is we believe that the right focus for our players and our business is not only coming up with a way to start the season, but to contemplate a way to finish it. And engaging in two games where players would be flying all over the country and then being together to engage in work, we feel that doing that prior to the season doesn’t properly influence or increase the likelihood of starting and finishing the season on time.”

Per Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network, the joint medical committee recommended a 21-day acclimation period for the players to get into football shape. The NFL asked players to show up two weeks early to accommodate that, and the NFLPA refused. The NFL shortened the acclimation period to fit in two preseason games, and the NFLPA wants to preseason at all.

At this point, it’s safe to say a grievance will be filed. To have this many prominent players expressing public concern regarding the league’s lack of preparation is appropriate and entirely justified, and it’s up to both sides to do more than just have players show up and hope against all common sense that COVID-19 won’t affect the league in any number of horrible ways.

One suspects that this Twitter campaign in just the beginning of a long labor battle.