The NFL announced that it still plans to begin its league year on March 18. Barring any change, this means that pro football’s free agency will kick off on Wednesday.
In the last 24 hours, we’ve seen the NBA put its season on hiatus and the NCAA progress towards a likely cancellation of March Madness. The NFL, meanwhile, has been mulling different measures to prevent league officials and players from catching the coronavirus while keeping the offseason schedule in tact.
More and more teams are cancelling travel – the Jets, Redskins, and Giants are among the latest – but the NFL has yet to put the kibosh on all travel league-wide. But, according to agent Erik Burkhardt (on Twitter), the league has cancelled all draftee facility visits.
The situation, of course, is fluid, but this is the slated schedule for events in the NFL and labor talks right now (h/t ESPN.com’s Field Yates, via Twitter):
- Saturday, 11:59pm ET: Deadline for players to vote on proposed CBA
- Monday, 11:59am ET: Deadline to apply a franchise or transition tag
- Monday, 12pm ET: Legal tampering window opens
- Wednesday, 4pm ET: Free agency begins
I don’t understand why this was even in jeopardy. Doesn’t free agency just entail players, agents, and lawyers hammering out contracts in the confine of their own offices and homes?
I think most Americans don’t fully understand why Coronavirus is putting all economic and entertainment on hold… would prefer 98% of the media stay home, notice how they are keeping busy while the rest of the World is shutting down.
no
At this point it’s looking like NFL Free agency is going to be the only game in town.
i get the issue of meetings between players and teams, but its probably in the best interest of most to keep things going as long as in-person meetings are limited