COVID-19 News & Rumors

The long-rumored roster reductions ahead of what will be historically unusual training camps look set to ensue. The NFLPA expects rosters to be reduced from 90-player maximums to 80 by camp, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. The NFL has now proposed an 80-player limit for training camp rosters, ESPN.com’s Dan Graziano tweets.

The NFL management council, however, has not yet signed off on the reduction, Tom Pelissero of NFL.com adds (on Twitter). Discussions veered toward allowing teams the option of carrying 90 players but classifying 10 as standby players, who would wait to replace someone (likely in the event of a COVID-19 contraction), but the NFLPA wanted more clarity here.

Should the expected 80-man max become reality for this year, it will mean upwards of 300 players will be cut in the coming days in order for teams to move down to the new expected limit. A roster reduction to 80 or 75 players, for the purposes of social distancing amid the COVID-19 pandemic, has been rumored for several weeks.

The NFL agreeing to the NFLPA-preferred zero-preseason-game arrangement lessens the need for 90-man rosters, and Tuesday’s NFLPA call confirmed there will be no exhibition contests this year, per NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero (on Twitter).

Although this will mean fewer jobs, the NFLPA proposed an 80-man roster max earlier this month. With teams’ onsite offseason work being nixed because of the pandemic, rookies are set to have a greater degree of difficulty acclimating to the NFL. While Tuesday’s news will not affect most (if any) 2020 draft choices, rookie UDFAs will likely represent the brunt of the forthcoming cuts. Select players signed to reserve/futures deals last winter stand to be vulnerable as well.

With the in-season workout circuit also set to be heavily impacted by COVID-19, Tuesday’s news promises to be a key point in many players’ careers. Teams do not have to trim their rosters to 53 players until early September, so UDFAs and other bottom-end players would have enjoyed several weeks of work attempting to carve out spots on rosters or practice squads. But the pandemic looks set to change this, which would stand to remove numerous players from teams’ rosters in the next week. Teams are slated to report to training camp July 28.

The COVID-19 pandemic will change how teams manage their rosters this season. It already prompted the NFL to create a separate list for players who contract the virus. The league is now considering a major change to its injured reserve setup.

The competition committee has endorsed a plan to allow an unlimited number of players to return from IR this season, Tom Pelissero of NFL.com tweets. The committee is also recommending teams be permitted to move players from IR back to the active roster after three weeks instead of the usual eight. These items have surfaced during the NFL’s talks with the NFLPA ahead of training camps, Pelissero adds.

Considering the limitations teams traditionally have for their IR lists, these changes being implemented would represent a significant development for roster management. Last season, teams were only allowed to return two players from IR. The new CBA increased that to three, with the standard eight-week return period remaining in place.

As recently as 2011, an IR designation meant a player was out for the season. In 2012, the NFL permitted teams to return one player off IR — as long as the player was classified as “designated to return.” In 2016, the league scrapped the DTR part of the process but still limited teams to one IR-return player per season. A year later, two players were permitted to return to active rosters.

Allowing teams to return unlimited players from injured reserve would increase teams’ roster flexibility. It would enable them to stash certain contributors on IR for three weeks instead of potentially losing them for the season because of injuries that are not necessarily season-ending setbacks. Teams’ IR-return plans frequently change because of various in-season ailments. These new policies being introduced this season in a special circumstance would allow for more talented players to remain on rosters.

This marks another change that will help teams during the most uncertain period in modern NFL history. Teams are already set to have six additional practice squad players — up from 10 in 2019 to 16 this season — and could have the opportunity to promote them to the active roster on game days, depending on the coronavirus’ impact.

The COVID-19 pandemic will almost certainly change NFL roster management throughout the 2020 season. Adjustments to practice squad sizes are being discussed, and it looks like there will be more practice work available this season.

Weeks after a report indicated a possible expansion from 12 to 16 players on teams’ practice squads, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk reports the NFL has sent the NFLPA a proposal on raising the P-squad limit by four. This would represent a major spike, considering practice squads resided at 10 players last season and stood at eight not that long ago.

To help teams with this unique health crisis, the NFL is proposing that six players on practice squads can have unlimited experience. This would help create additional jobs for vested veterans and allow teams to promote seasoned players to their active rosters in the event of positive COVID-19 tests that arise in-season. At the time of the CBA ratification in March, teams were set to be limited to just two such veterans on practice squads.

The NFL’s proposal cited its contagious disease policy, which allows for six P-squad players to be promoted within four hours of kickoff. The league is proposing to move that deadline to 90 minutes prior to kickoff, Florio notes.

Normally, teams cannot promote practice squad players after 4pm CT on Saturdays before Sunday tilts. For a team to be permitted to take advantage of this proposed rule change, one of its players must test positive after the 4pm deadline, Florio adds. The league’s proposal for this season, however, would remove the six-player limit, meaning teams could promote any number of practice squad players on game days — in the event of a virus outbreak.

As the first set of rookies report to training camps, the NFL and NFLPA have gone back and forth about key issues. But the sides are now closer to an agreement.

The NFLPA made daily testing a high priority, and that pursuit looks to have succeeded. The NFL has agreed to test for COVID-19 daily, according to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk (on Twitter). Daily tests will be administered during the first two weeks of camp, Tom Pelissero of NFL.com tweets, before a re-evaluation of the policy will take place.

If the positive rate drops below 5% over the first two weeks of camp, the league will move to every-other-day tests, Pelissero adds. This will apply to players, coaches, staffers and certain front office members. The league expects test results to emerge within 24 hours, according to NFL chief medical officer Dr. Allen Sills (Twitter link). Upon arrival at team headquarters, players and staffers will only be allowed to enter their respective facilities if they test negative twice, per Dan Graziano of ESPN.com. BioReference Laboratories will conduct the tests.

This comes after a coordinated social media blitz from high-profile players Sunday. Other key issues remain unresolved — from financial solutions to the return-to-work acclimation period represent two of those — but the players have moved the needle on two key health-related matters Monday. The NFL preseason will now feature either one game or no games, with the league backing down from seeking two.

It remains to be seen if football can proceed during a pandemic, given the nature of the sport, the personnel required and the lack of a bubble setup. But daily testing will undoubtedly help the league as it attempts to find out.

Training camp for all 32 teams is still scheduled to start on July 28, and rookies, QBs, and injured players are slated to report this week. However, unanswered questions remain regarding, among other things, preseason length, opt-out rules, and economics, and a number of prominent players launched a social media blitz today to highlight their concerns.

Using the hashtag #WeWantToPlay, players were very blunt. Saints QB Drew Brees said, “We need Football! We need sports! We need hope! The NFL’s unwillingness to follow the recommendations of their own medical experts will prevent that. If the NFL doesn’t do their part to keep players healthy there is no football in 2020. It’s that simple. Get it done @NFL“

49ers CB Richard Sherman said, “The NFL has ignored the safety recommendations from the experts that THEY hired. We all love this game and want to go out and compete with our brothers. The NFL needs to provide a safe work environment for us to do that.”

Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network notes (via Twitter) that the tweets are primarily aimed at disputes over the acclimation period and preseason schedule. The joint medical committee recommended a 21-day acclimation period, and the NFL originally proposed early report dates to accommodate that. The union rejected that, but they do not have the right to reject the originally-scheduled training camp start date of July 28. And, as of now, the plan remains for there to be two preseason games, which the NFLPA has opposed for some time.

Pelissero says in a separate tweet that the players could file an unsafe work environment grievance, and today’s social media blitz suggests that they are considering exactly that. Union president J.C. Tretter joined the barrage with the following tweet: “What you are seeing today is our guys standing up for each other and for the work their union leadership has done to keep everyone as safe as possible. The NFL needs to listen to our union and adopt the experts’ recommendations.”

For all practical purposes, the league and the union need to get safety matters resolved tonight, as Dan Graziano of ESPN.com opines (via Twitter). With Texans and Chiefs rookies and QBs scheduled to report to their respective teams tomorrow, Graziano says a grievance could certainly be in the works if the union has not approved all safety protocols.