No NFL Preseason, Now Hold Your Breath

The NFL and NFL Players Association canceled preseason games due to safety concerns pertaining to COVID-19. What will that mean for the regular season? As has been the case all offseason, there are more questions than answers.

As much as NFL teams rely upon preseason games for talent evaluation and fans desperately want to see football even without spectators in the stands, the Tuesday decision to scrap the exhibition schedule was the right one.

As Coronavirus cases increase nationwide and hospitals are at capacity, it just didn’t make sense to play NFL games that don’t count in the standings. There’s something to be said for acknowledging the risk outweighs any reward.

So where does that leave us in regards to the regular season?

Yeah, good luck on knowing what happens next.

NFL teams are scheduled to report to facilities on Tuesday for training camp, which means a fluid plan that includes having a COVID-19 protocol in place, constant testing, and mandating social-distancing at all times including the players’ locker room spaces.

The decision to have 80-player rosters for camp means the Colts will have to cut 10, unless some decide by Aug. 1 to opt out on the 2020 season.

While there’s been enough time to accept the reality that there probably won’t be fans in the stands for Week 1 of NFL games, which is scheduled to start with the Houston Texans visiting the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday, Sept. 10, the lingering concern is how the league will be able to adjust, if possible, should COVID-19 impact rosters.

That’s really what we’re talking about here. As it stands now, the NFL seems resolute in providing a season. Prominent players such as J.J. Watt, Drew Brees, and Russell Wilson have expressed their safety concerns on social media — Watt has said he won’t play if forced to wear a mask on field — but the league has maintained its position that games will be played.

As of Tuesday, 59 players have tested positive for COVID-19, according to the NFLPA web site.

If or when other players test positive after the season begins, how many will it take for a team to be impacted, and thus, wreck a scheduled game? Some people might not want to hear this, but if the virus spreads during training camp, more players are going to push back on accepting the risk.

Forget about that Aug. 1 deadline. Are the Texans going to tell Watt that he must play because he decides on Aug. 15 that the risk is too great? Will the Seattle Seahawks tell Wilson that while they understand his wife is pregnant, he still has to do his job regardless?

I am concerned.
My wife is pregnant.@NFL Training camp is about to start..

And there’s still No Clear Plan on Player Health & Family Safety. 🤷🏾

We want to play football but we also want to protect our loved ones. #WeWantToPlay

— Russell Wilson (@DangeRussWilson) July 19, 2020

Expect the NFLPA to ensure there’s solidarity on the safety issue, which means any kind of outbreak will prompt the union to want to shut this down.

In the interest of trying to offer some sort of solution to safe football, here’s a radical idea that nobody will like but could be the only salvation to 2020.

If there’s an outbreak and the NFL is forced to take a step back and postpone or cancel games, perhaps the smartest course of action is to prepare for a playoff tournament come January. The NHL is planning to return on Aug. 1 with 24 teams competing for the Stanley Cup, starting with best-of-five, round-robin series in two hub cities.

Just let that idea sink in for a moment. All 32 NFL teams would have a chance. Seeding would be based on the 2019 record (don’t know any other way to do it). Multiple games would be played at neutral sites. Super Bowl LV could still be played at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.

While researchers might not yet have a COVID-19 vaccine by then, waiting to play again in January would give them time. And if a sports nation gets the message, wears masks in public, and the Coronavirus pandemic finally lessens with improved testing, perhaps the NFL could pull this off at a later date.

Yeah, the idea of crowning an NFL champion without a regular season sounds ludicrous. Just throwing it out there, not that it will happen, but holding out hope to see something as opposed to nothing.

(Phillip B. Wilson has covered the Indianapolis Colts for more than two decades and authored the 2013 book 100 Things Colts Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die. He’s on Twitter @pwilson24, on Facebook at @allcoltswithphilb and @100thingscoltsfans, and his email is phillipbwilson24@yahoo.com.)