Cole Wick becomes first Saints player to opt out of 2020 season
Cole Wick has become the first New Orleans Saints player to opt out of the 2020 season, a source confirmed on Tuesday. The news was first reported by NFL Network's Tom Pelissero. The reasoning is due to an asthma condition. Wick, a 2016 undrafted free agent, joined the Saints practice squad in late December of last year, and was retained on a reserve/future contract in early January.
A lot of players are starting to come forward and have elected to opt out of the league year for various reasons, but none have been hit harder than the New England Patriots, who have six players who won't be available in 2020. Here's a running list of who has decided to opt out of the season thus far, which has some very high-profile names attached to it.
- Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, Chiefs
- De'Anthony Thomas, Ravens
- Marcus Cannon, Patriots
- Dont'a Hightower, Patriots
- Eddie Goldman, Bears
- Brandon Bolden, Patriots
- Danny Vitale, Patriots
- Chance Warmack, Seahawks
- Maurice Canady, Cowboys
- Najee Toran, Patriots
- Andre Smith, Ravens
- Eddie Vanderdoes, Texans
- Caleb Brantley, Washington
- Stephen Guidry, Cowboys
- Kyle Peko, Broncos
- Cole Wick, Saints
- Anthony McKinney, Titans
- Patrick Chung, Patriots
- Star Lotulelei, Bills
The Saints are pretty stacked at the tight end position with Jared Cook, Josh Hill, and rookie Adam Trautman. There's also the possibility of using Taysom Hill. Wick probably wasn't going to make the final roster, but could have been a target to stay on the practice squad. Unfortunately, a limited training camp and lack of preseason probably doesn't help things for players like Wick.
Wick will likely not be the last player the Saints will be without going into training camp. The team recently got all four of their draft picks under contract on Monday. Unfortunately, we still have way more questions rather than answers in the sports world with the COVID-19 threat.
