Following Rick Dennison‘s departure from the Vikings due to a COVID-19 vaccine refusal, the Patriots will also part ways with one of their offensive line coaches.
Co-offensive line coach Cole Popovich is off the Patriots’ staff, Jim McBride of the Boston Globe reports. Popovich is gone due to his refusal to comply with the NFL’s vaccine policy, Mike Reiss of ESPN.com adds (on Twitter). Popovich and Carmen Bricillo worked as co-O-line coaches in New England last season, but McBride adds the latter will helm the position solo this year.
Popovich, 36, has been with the Patriots since 2016. He broke into the NFL on Bill Belichick‘s staff and moved up to assistant running backs coach in 2019. In 2020, the Pats promoted he and Bricillo to fill the void created by famed O-line coach Dante Scarnecchia‘s retirement. Popovich’s NFL career is now in limbo.
In order to work with players, coaches must be vaccinated. The NFL has not required players to be vaccinated, but staffers — in order to qualify for Tier 1 or Tier 2 status — must either do so or provide medical or religious grounds for refusing. Teams are not permitted to cut players because of their refusal to be vaccinated, though they can jettison unvaccinated players for other reasons. However, no such rule is in place for coaches. NFL chief medical officer Dr. Allen Sills said Friday nearly 100% of NFL staffs are vaccinated, so it will be interesting to see if any additional coaches are moved off staff in the coming days.
Wonder if the Supreme Court will step in and make the Pats bake the cake prob not
NFL isn’t a public company.
Neither was that bakery ghostrobot is referring to.
A rule based on public safety is much different than a rule based on discrimination.
According to who?
Although a rule that allows players to play without the vaccine, yet coaches lose their job for not having it, is discrimination.
Imagine if a black or female coach was fired over this! It would be holy…..for the league. Give it back.
Hey what race do you think isn’t taking the vaccine
All races are taking the shot and all races have plenty that say ‘no thanks’. Cole Beasley and D Hops both said ‘no’. Different races right?
Blacks, fyi
link to kff.org
The players have a union contract, the coaches do not. And there are a hundred years of precedents allowing collective bargaining agreements to carve out exceptions to the rules for the folks covered by them.
whatever it takes to subvert the 1a
♫ Someone left the cake out in the rain
I don’t think that I can take it
Cause it took so long to bake it
And I’ll never have that recipe again
OH NOOOO! ♫
bullshit…and that’s why I’m giving up on nfl! that and their woke crap!
Yet here you are reading nfl news and commenting on it. You showed them. Keep on with your fake rage. Youll be watching and following.
Lol no you won’t. You’re full of it. You’ll be right back here in a few days and after the season starts, and so on
rtr1redrockets –
Dude give up on the word “woke” while you’re doing it. And no one cares if you give up on the NFL. Doesn’t effect any of us one bit. Man has that been played out over the last week. Just another guy trying to be cool by using the latest new word
Feel better, turbo?
I see lawsuits coming in the future
Right. Since the courts havent already ruled in these cases….oops
Ah yes, the classic “one court to rule them all.” I’m not taking a side here, but courts contradict each other frequently.
Which cases are you referring to, out of curiousity?
There are many cases. Check out the U.S. equal opportunity employment commission, they have a-lot pf the information there. In most instances if its not a religious beliefs or medical conditions, then they can mandate it.
Additionally, many states are at will employment.
I realize that there could be many cases, but I was wondering if you could give me a specific one to see what it states. Case law evolves, of course, and as we see more of this type of situation, I certainly expect the rulings to evolve as well. In any case (no pun intended), I’d like to see specifics so I can know for sure what’s being cited.
Even “at will” states are still bound by employment regulations by the way, including regarding fireable offenses. It will be curious to see if things like this are regarded as expression or medical issues going forward, which will certainly influence their regulatory standards.
I dont disagree. All poonts you make are valid. There have been a few specific cases. But if im being 100% honest, im on my phone when i use this, and am just too lazy to find them on Mobile.
100% right case law evolves. IIRC the religious and medical grounds for declining the vaccine were recent. But I honestly am not sure.
I do understand at will states must follow employment regulations, but thats very easy to skirt. Simply stating “performance not up to standards” usually suffices, even if thats not what the true cause is.
Fair points. I’ll see what I can find, because those specific cases will influence the future possibilities a lot. Also depending on the venue, of course. You raise fair points.
EEOC isn’t part of the legislative branch
Never said it was. Said they have information there. They reference alot of things.
Maybe he can work from home watching the FILM.
In addition to leadings meetings on Zoom. Doubt it will happen, but I wouldn’t be surprised if his agent has raised the possibility.
I would hope his agent has, or he doesn’t have a very good agent. If the team does not at least allow him to conduct his film study with players, it would make the termination seem purely punitive and not just for the health of his coworkers. The former would be an issue that could be argued against the organization much moreso than the latter.
There’s going to be a whole lot of creative reasons that the players get released, since they technically cannot say it’s because of a refusal to get the vaccine. Anyone wanna bet that Buffalo finds a reason to get rid of Cole Beasley?
I bet they’d like to. But Beasley has, cleverly enough (despite the very public reaction calling him an idiot and what not), protected himself by making enough of an issue of it on Twitter that his termination would instantly be seen as punitive. If he gets cut, the Bills (who also have made a few public comments regarding cutting unvaccinated players and received very public warnings from the NFL) would be on the hook for firing a player for his vaccination status.
If Beasley had just gone quietly, his termination would just result in an accusation from him that it was COVID related. Now, he has a body of evidence suggesting that it indeed would be. The Bills can only hope for a trade partner if they want him gone, because a trade would not be akin to losing his job, and the backlash would be minor. They could sell that to NFLPA and NFL without violating their agreement.