NFL Trade Deadline & Election - Too Much For One Day

ASHBURN, Va. - You have to seriously wonder what the NFL was thinking putting the league's deadline on the same day as Election Day - and the most important vote of perhaps a lifetime.

This is a league with a gift for dominating the headlines 12 months a year and therefore purposely schedules the league calendar to reflect that mission. There is even a name for what the NFL does with its unflattering info - the "Friday afternoon news dump,'' when they tuck suspensions and such into the news cycle in the least noticeable time and place.

But on Tuesday, the NFL opted to go head-to-head with an election.

It was a brain overload for many of us. Washington and Donald Trump and Joe Biden and Washington and Dwayne Haskins and Ryan Kerrigan. ... Oh, the decisions!

Smartly, the NFL and NFLPA earlier this year announced that team facilities would be closed on Election Day. So there was some level of awareness.

All day long, @NFL on twitter focused on team and individual player messages to vote - certainly a worthwhile cause and an important message ... and more important than football.

Still, in a country where we talk of "a separation of church and state,'' there would've been wisdom in the NFL recognizing a separation of this sort.

We do appreciate the "vote'' message, of course. Daron Payne was one of the players featured.

Our voice
Our vote #NFLVotes pic.twitter.com/IK71DbJ1Vo
— Daron Payne (@94yne) November 3, 2020

Washington coach Ron Rivera did his part in getting the message out in a different but understandable way.

I usually get up early & go to my local polling location, but wasn’t sure how I would be feeling after my cancer treatments, so I #votedbymail. Stay safe everyone & #VOTE #EveryVoteCounts pic.twitter.com/MDgz1Nhj5z
— Ron Rivera (@RiverboatRonHC) November 3, 2020

Two big deals (if you love football) crowded into one day. We survived it all, but we hate that one gigantic story might distract from the other ... and we're surprised that the all-powerful NFL didn't see that coming.

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