NFL Offers NFLPA to Cancel Preseason

Many players including Russell Wilson, Richard Sherman, Tyrann Mathieu, and others have been vocal about the implementation (or lack thereof) of a safe and effective plan to limit the spread of COVID-19 around the league.

In one of many responses to this, the NFL reportedly offered to cancel the preseason. ESPN Rreporter Adam Schefter tweeted the news to confirm.

NFL offered the NFLPA today to play zero preseason games this summer, per source.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) July 20, 2020

However, conflict is still in the air. George Atallah, the NFLPA's assistant executive director of external affairs, stated that the league didn't cancel the preseason for them. Read what Atallah had to say for additional context on the matter.

Precise points on the discussions between the NFL and NFLPA:
1. NFL didn’t offer or give up preseason games for us. They had the right to set those (or not) under the CBA already.
2. NFL didn’t “concede” on health and safety issues. We implemented the best protocols together.
— George Atallah (@GeorgeAtallah) July 21, 2020

No matter how the news was reported, it seems clear that the NFL and NFLPA have been cooperating to make a season happen under safe circumstances during the pandemic. At least we know that there is an active effort towards providing safety for the players.

Unfortunately, this will be a problem for the undrafted free agents who would be looking for opportunities to play during the preseason. If there is no preseason, there's probably a much greater chance for them to miss out on huge opportunities to remain signed.

This is especially due to the fact that teams may want to adhere to social distancing protocols by having smaller rosters. In addition to this, everyone would be losing money. It's an unfortunate situation either way, but this seems better than putting lives at risk.

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