Cutting to the Questions That Matter About Unauthorized Workouts

The NFL is certain to find the Titans are at fault in one way or another.

NASHVILLE – Let’s move past the whole who-knew-what-and-when discussion. That is not what is important here.

It’s not as if the NFL is making things up as it goes. Everything related to its approach to the COVID-19 pandemic in general and the Tennessee Titans’ outbreak specifically was carefully planned months in advance and in consultation with the NFL Players’ Association.

The fact that enhanced procedures recently have been enacted does not mean they were just conceived. It means the powers that be held them in abeyance with the hope that they would not be necessary.

Rest assured, it was not a surprise to the Titans that players were not permitted to gather when their facility was shut down on Sept. 29, the first of eight days of positive tests in a span of 10. Likewise, it was not news that the team would face restrictive post exposure protocols once it got back to business (that still has not happened) or that there would be stiff punishments for violation of league policy.

Great deal of talk about when protocol prohibiting gatherings outside facilities was enacted.

It doesn’t really matter for #Titans.
1/3

— Paul Kuharsky (@PaulKuharskyNFL) October 7, 2020

.@Rodger_Saffold said on Instagram players didn’t know that until Oct. 1. Perhaps there was a communication breakdown. But NFL is investigating off-site workouts for a reason and they took place on 9/30 at MBA and in at least two sessions at Rose Park. 3/3

— Paul Kuharsky (@PaulKuharskyNFL) October 7, 2020

There are, however, questions that league officials will want answered in relation to unauthorized gatherings last week after the team facility was shut down due to the first of what turned out to be positive tests in eight out of the last 10 days. They are:

1) Was it made perfectly clear to the players that they were not to have contact with one another?

2) If not, why wasn’t that directive conveyed in a way that left no doubt about what was expected?

3) Did those gatherings happen on just one day or did they continue for more several days?

Here’s the thing. Whatever the answers, the NFL is going to determine the Titans were at fault in some way and the franchise will be punished.

Expect fines and expect them to be heavy. To date, nearly $2 million in assessments have been levied against teams and head coaches for failure to properly use masks on the sideline during games. This almost certainly will be viewed as a more egregious violation.

If the league determines that the message to stay apart was delivered with a wink and a nod or some other subtle counter-directive, perhaps it will cost the franchise one or more picks in the 2021 NFL Draft.

No, the Titans will not forfeit a game. That is the so-called “nuclear option,” and nobody starts there. To issue that sort of punishment, the NFL would have to determine that the franchise openly and wantonly disobeyed established protocols at multiple levels. It almost is unthinkable that was the case.

Anyone who has spent any time around this team can attest to the fact that this is a highly motivated and enthusiastic bunch. After the run to last season’s conference championship game and a 3-0 start to this season, there is a sense that a rare opportunity is at hand.

Almost certainly, the unauthorized gatherings were nothing nefarious or sinister. They were an honest, impulsive attempt to make the most of a bad situation.

Of course, the players knew they were not supposed to get together. They just did not know how serious the NFL was when it told them not to.

It is an approach that will cost the Titans money – possibly more. But it is also a mindset that they hope will pay off with continued success as they work their way out of a situation unlike anything any other NFL team has faced.