To complete an NFL season in a country inflicted with the coronavirus, all players and team staff will have a responsibility to act safely when outside the team’s facility.
If they don’t, teams will have the power to fine and suspended reckless offenders.
Green Bay Packers president Mark Murphy confirmed the power in his monthly question and answer post at Packers.com.
Murphy explained that after players pass the initial round of testing – three negative tests in four days – and gain access to the facility, all future positive COVID-19 tests among these players can be reviewed for reckless behavior away from the facility. If the team can prove the player engaged in a reckless activity that helped spread the virus, the player can be put on the non-football injury list, opening up the player to fines, suspensions and reductions in base salary.
Keeping the players and staff in line when they leave the building is the “weak link” in the league’s coronavirus protocols, so teams need strong incentives against reckless behavior outside the facility.
“With the medical protocols that we have put in place for the season, we feel very good about keeping the players safe when they are in our facility,” Murphy wrote. “The weak link will be when players (and coaches and staff who interact with players) go home. The players and others will have to act responsibly when they are away from the facility, or we run the risk of an outbreak.”
NFL teams are not required to pay base salaries to players on the non-football injury list. Generally, the list was used in the past for illnesses or injuries suffered outside practice or games.
The Packers placed two players on the non-football injury list on Friday, but neither is COVID-19 related. Guard Simon Stepaniak and running back Patrick Taylor both suffered significant injuries in college and aren’t physically ready to play.
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