Former Georgia running back Nick Chubb, now ranked as the No. 3 running back in the NFL, is worried that one bad apple will spoil the whole barrel.
Chubb, who is entering his third year in the league, is fearful that something will go wrong with COVID-19 issues for his team the Cleveland Browns.
“My biggest concern is just one person messing it up for everybody,” Chubb said in a Zoom teleconference with reporters on Tuesday, when asked about the coronavirus. “If one person gets sick, if somebody somehow gets on the field around a lot more guys, he can spread it through that. We have tests every morning so I think that wouldn’t happen anyway, but if somehow some guy slipped past the test and all that, then that would worry me.”
The NFL has implemented strict safety guidelines for returning during the pandemic, but Chubb is right. It would only take one to ruin it for everybody.
The NFL is faced with a much tougher situation than the NBA or NHL. Teams are much larger and require a lot more space to conduct team activities. The idea of a ‘NFL bubble’ is simply not feasible and the league will need to rely on trusting players to follow protocol, or things could get ugly.
The Browns have five players who decided to opt out of the 2020 season due to COVID-19 concerns. That list has four offensive lineman including Drew Forbes, Drake Dorbeck, Colby Gossett and Malcolm Pridgeon.