The NFL is beginning to prepare for players to return at training camp as they gear up for the regular season. But the league’s COVID-19 protocols aren’t sitting right with Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh, who said he feels they’re unrealistic.
“I’ve seen all the memos on that, and to be quite honest with you, it’s impossible what they’re asking us to do. Humanly impossible,” Harbaugh said on 105.7’s Inside Access.
The NFL released a set of initial protocols for players to return to team facilities. They involved staff members wearing a mask when in the building, football equipment to be disinfected after use, and locker rooms to be staged to ensure players stay six feet apart.
Even though the Under Armour Performance Center is spacious, the idea of 90 players being on the roster while needing to practice and use the facilities makes these restrictions a tougher proposition, according to Harbaugh.
“We have to practice and I’m pretty sure the huddle is not going to be six feet spaced,” Harbaugh continued. “Are guys going to shower one at a time all day? Are guys going to lift weights one at a time all day? These are things the league and the PA needs to get a handle on and needs to get agreed with some common sense so we can operate in a 13-hour day in training camp that they’re giving us and get our work done. That’s the one thing, you can tell by my voice, I’m a little frustrated with what I’m hearing there. And I think they need to get that pinned down a little better.”
Commissioner Roger Goodell noted in his memo to teams that the protocols are likely to change as more information about the virus comes to light. Harbaugh also acknowledged the restrictions could change and ease up before training camp.
“Now maybe we’ll know more in two months and they’ll be able to be a little more realistic and practical in what they’re asking,” Harbaugh said. “I expect that to be the case. I think good people, smart people are involved in this. But the way I’m reading these memos right now, you throw your hands up and you go, ‘What the heck? There’s no way this can be right.’”
Even though Harbaugh was clearly upset with the protocols and how they’d make the already difficult task of getting the players prepared a harder one, he did say the Ravens were going to do everything possible to implement the league’s rules. Baltimore is currently scheduled to open training camp at its Under Armour Performance Center facility on July 28.
[vertical-gallery id=47157]