NFL Players Association (NFLPA) president JC Tretter and executive director DeMaurice Smith spoke with the media on Friday, providing several updates as players prepare to return to work. Rookies are scheduled to report to training camp next week with others reporting the following week.
Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area has been providing several updates via Twitter from the video call. Below are those updates, which give you a picture of where the two sides stand with the league set to begin work in a matter of days.
NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith says he has heard from coaches who have told him the NFL's return-to-play protocols will not work.
— Matt Maiocco (@MaioccoNBCS) July 17, 2020
DeMaurice Smith said the NFL has a schedule that it wants to stick with. The role of the union is to account for whether it is truly safe for the teams to open training camps on time (July 28).
— Matt Maiocco (@MaioccoNBCS) July 17, 2020
NFLPA president JC Tretter said he has been in constant communication with players around the league. He said it's responsibility of the NFLPA to get "the best answers not the fast answers."
— Matt Maiocco (@MaioccoNBCS) July 17, 2020
DeMaurice Smith said he believes daily testing is important for the player.
On preseason: The joint task force agreed on acclimation period, influenced by returning from 2011 lockout. NFLPA will fight for right acclimation period.
— Matt Maiocco (@MaioccoNBCS) July 17, 2020
Smith said he believes having teams travel, meet and play in the preseason does not help the goal of having the league season beginning on time and having a full season.
— Matt Maiocco (@MaioccoNBCS) July 17, 2020
JC Tretter said the recommendation for ramp up to play football is:
-21 days of strength and conditioning.
— Matt Maiocco (@MaioccoNBCS) July 17, 2020
-10 days of ramping up to non-padded work.
-14 days of contact acclimation with practices before playing a game.
DeMaurice Smith said he does not know of any players who have formally chosen to opt out of this season.
— Matt Maiocco (@MaioccoNBCS) July 17, 2020
JC Tretter opened possibility, say, a center tests positive on a Friday. Anyone who comes in contact with him could be quarantined. That could include all offensive linemen, heck, anyone in the huddle and defensive players he contacted in practice. NFL must address that issue.
— Matt Maiocco (@MaioccoNBCS) July 17, 2020
On the call NFLPA had with *team doctors* last night, the consensus was that it's safe to open training camps as long as appropriate measures are put into place. Smith said there were aspects of the opinions expressed that he agreed with and some he did not.
— Matt Maiocco (@MaioccoNBCS) July 17, 2020
The NFLPA wants daily testing for COVID-19. DeMaurice Smith says it's no problem to start the season, but he believes daily testing increases the chances that the season will conclude the way everyone wants.
— Matt Maiocco (@MaioccoNBCS) July 17, 2020
On the subject of opt-outs, DeMaurice Smith said it's incredibly important that players who choose not to play this season are NOT "unfairly punished" for it.
— Matt Maiocco (@MaioccoNBCS) July 17, 2020
For San Francisco 49ers fans who are wondering why the team hasn't yet locked up All-Pro tight end George Kittle to a long-term deal, there was this interesting tidbit regarding the salary cap.
DeMaurice Smith says there are two options with the 2021 salary cap:
1) Lost revenues would lead to a drop in the cap that could be $70M per team and each team would deal with that.
— Matt Maiocco (@MaioccoNBCS) July 17, 2020
2) Both sides work together to avoid a precipitous drop in the salary cap next season.
Such a significant drop in the salary cap was previously brought up by Tom E. Curran of NBC Sports Boston, who called a fall from $198 million this year to as low as $130 million a worst-case scenario. Such a fall would undoubtedly hurt several teams, potentially forcing them to offload some high-priced veterans or restructure several deals.