Eagles Make Adjustments Due to COVID-19

The Eagles are making major adjustments to their daily business due to the coronavirus during the busiest time of the offseason.

Owner Jeffrey Lurie announced that starting on Friday “our staff, with limited exceptions, have been instructed to work from home. We are continuing our preparations for the 2020 season, including free agency and the draft, and will monitor developments as more information becomes available."

The Eagles are also pulling their scouts off the road, according to a source. On Wednesday, the team reportedly pulled all their coaching staff off the road and did not want anyone traveling to pro days except their scouts.

That has now changed.

"It's been a fluid situation, one where conditions have changed fairly quickly," said Eagles president Don Smoelnski on the team's web site. "I think everyone is trying to make good decisions with the safety of the larger community, the broader community in mind."

The Eagles may also have to adjust plans for the early portion of their schedule, too. It is being reported that Philadelphia mayor Jim Kenney and his administration are planning to ban all events with over 1,000 attendees for the next six months.

Not having any Eagles personnel on the road may not matter anyway, since pro days are likely to start getting cancelled. Michigan cancelled theirs, which was scheduled for Friday.

"We want to keep this as safe an environment as possible, so the players who are rehabbing and working out are in an environment where they feel like they can come in here in a time of uncertainty," Executive Vice President/General Manager Howie Roseman said on the team's web site.

"It's a 'dead' period in the NFL, so if players want to work out it's on their own accord. This is a place they can come, they can work out, they can get their rehab in. We just want to make sure at this point in time that we're limiting the exposure for the amount of people that we have in this organization."

The NFL cancelled its annual owners’ meetings, which had been slated for March 29-April 1 in Palm Beach, Fla.

Rule changes and other football matters normally discussed at the spring meeting will now be discussed and voted upon at the May meeting, with NFL coaches and general managers expected to attend.

That is, of course, if the threat of COVID-19 has passed.

The league is proceeding with its plan to begin its new league year on Wednesday at 4 p.m. The free agent negotiating window is still scheduled for noon on Monday, though it doesn’t appear that any prospective free agents will be visiting the Eagles.

What the NFL needs to do is put out a blanket statement telling teams what they can and cannot do so none of them find a way to gain an advantage in recruiting free agents and hosting college prospects.

The Eagles have not yet announced any plans to cancel visits with college prospects. Earlier Thursday, SI.com learned that Wyoming linebacker Logan Wilson was scheduled for a visit.

Wilson is the third known top-30 visit to Philadelphia after Louisiana Tech cornerback Amik Robertson and UCLA CB Darnay Holmes.

NFL teams are each allowed 30 such visits. Whether or not any of them or all of them will take place remains to be seen.

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