As Major League Baseball and the National Basketball Association near their respective returns to the court, we’re beginning to see announcements from players that they intend to sit out the 2020 season due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. While many players are excited to return to action, others express a very reasonable concern for their health — or the health of their families.
The NFL should expect the same when they return, which is why some important discussions are already being had about what that would look like.
According to Mike Garafolo of NFL.com, the NFL and the player’s association have already begun discussing a formal “opt-out program” for players who do not feel comfortable with playing in 2020 due to the ongoing public health crisis.
“The league and the NFLPA are an ‘opt-out program’ for players who are not comfortable playing this upcoming season because of the pandemic, because of some underlying symptoms, because of their families — whatever,” said Garafolo.
“And the hope is they come to an agreement that the player can opt out and come back in 2021 and pick up his contract where he left off. They call that ‘tolling’, so your contract would toll. That’s being discussed right now and sounds likes it very well may be a reality soon.”
For the Dolphins, there doesn’t seem to be much to worry about from a financial perspective if “tolling” contracts becomes a reality. The team owns just four contracts with a cap hit this season in excess of $10M on the year and with a projected $53M in cap space available in 2021, Miami would be able to pick up the tab on any deferred contract numbers with little issue. If the NFL ends up deducting the 2021 salary cap by a large margin due to losses in revenue sharing amid the COVID-19 pandemic, then that may result in a different story.
But with the 13th highest cap space in the NFL as things currently stand for 2021, there will be plenty of teams with bigger issues awaiting them than Miami if any of this comes to life.