COVID Testing Paves Way for Start of Training Camp; Preseason Eliminated
GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers’ rookie class could have arrived for the start of training camp on Tuesday.
Instead, the Packers told their nine draft picks and assorted undrafted free agents to stay home until there’s some labor certainty.
“Total ****show,” one agent told Packer Central on Monday morning of the NFL’s procrastination toward working with the NFLPA to craft rules on how to navigate a football season through a pandemic.
One domino did fall on Monday, with the league and union agreeing on COVID-19 testing. That paved the way for rookies to report to Green Bay on Thursday, two agents said. Thursday was the original reporting date for quarterbacks and players coming back from injury, with the full squad reporting on Tuesday, July 28. It’s not immediately known if Aaron Rodgers and Co. will be arriving with the rookies.
“Our union has been pushing for the strongest testing and tracing protocols to keep our players safe,” the NFLPA said in a statement. “The testing protocols we agreed to are one critical factor that will help us return to work safely and gives us the best chance to play and finish the season.”
Here’s how it will work: After arriving at training camp, players and staff members will undergo testing and then go home. If the test is negative, they must undergo testing for a second consecutive day. If they pass both tests, they’ll be allowed to enter team facilities.
Players will be tested daily for the first two weeks of camp. If, after those two weeks, the positive test rate is less than 5 percent, the league would start testing players every other day. If the positive test rate goes back to greater than 5 percent, daily testing will resume.
“This is ongoing work,” said Dr. Allen Sills, the league’s chief medical officer. “There's no finish line with health and safety, and I think these protocols are living, breathing documents, which means they will change as we get new information. They will undoubtedly be changing over time, which is what we usually see in medicine.”
COVID testing was a major point of contention for a large group of players, who took to Twitter on Sunday with a coordinated message.
“We want to play,” Packers left tackle David Bakhtiari wrote. “We want to be a beacon of light during these tough times. All we ask is for the @NFL to listen and cooperate with the doctors and scientist to collectively come up with a health and safety plan with the @NFLPA so the players can do what we love. #WeWantToPlay.”
Another domino could be teetering. The NFL already had agreed to go from four preseason games to two and then to one. On Monday, The Associated Press said the league had agreed to eliminate the entire preseason. That means a key victory for the players. After losing offseason workouts due to the pandemic, the players want to be eased back into action. They have sought a three-week “acclimation” period before putting on helmets, and then another three weeks before a game. That schedule would not allow preseason games. On Monday, the NFL offered an 18-day acclimation period, so the two sides are close on a key sticking point.
“These are complicated issues which involve a lot of factors,” Sills said. “But suffice it to say we very much look at it from a medical and public health standpoint, and we want to make sure that first and foremost we're creating the safest possible environment for our players, for our coaches and our staff, but that we're also operating within the safest environment for each one of our clubs' locations, which means ongoing and regular communication with the public health authorities in those areas.”
