Is the Training Camp Timeline Coming into Focus?

If we piece together some of the clues, we could very well have the start of the picture regarding what the NFL plans to do with training camps and the preseason.

The NFL is expected to finalize plans soon for how and when training camps are to be conducted, but there already appears to be plenty of clues as to how the league might be thinking.

According to the NFL Network, training camps will begin on July 28 and, despite some clubs (like the Giants) and states with NFL teams (like New York and New Jersey) mandating a 14-day quarantine period for anyone arriving from outside the tri-state area, players will not be required to report early.

On Wednesday, the state governors of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut signed a join executive order mandating all persons traveling to the tri-state area from select states that have seen spikes in COVID-19 cases to quarantine for 14 days upon arrival.

The criteria applies to anyone arriving from a state with a positive test rate higher than 10 per 100,000 residents, or a state with a 10 percent or higher rate over a seven-day rolling average, per multiple reports.

As of Wednesday, when the order was to take effect at midnight, nine states met those criteria, including Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Washington, Utah, and Texas.

Members of the New York Mets and New York Yankees baseball teams who had been training down in Florida will be exempt from the joint executive order per New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.

It’s not known if the NFL players will be exempt as well, though given that there is still a little over a month before training camps begin and the league hasn’t yet finalized its protocols, they will likely embark on a different path.

The most likely scenario will see all players quarantine for the 14 days starting on July 28, the two weeks likely spent conducting virtual classroom training, as was initially reported to be in a memo released earlier this month regarding the eventual return of the players to team facilities and the emphasis placed on social distancing.

The on-field work would then likely begin on or about August 11, which would fall two days before the Giants are scheduled to commence their 2020 preseason slate “on the road” against the Jets.

If the league does shorten the preseason, for the Giants, that likely means the cancellation of their two road games, against the Jets and Titans.

Instead, those two and a half weeks before the Giants’ third scheduled preseason game (at home against the Packers on August 29) would probably be the first of the two preseason games they’ll play, followed by the scheduled preseason final against the Patriots scheduled for Thursday, September 3.