NFL players will be hit with stricter COVID-19 protocols in the coming days.
According to Tom Pelissero, the league is instituting “heightened” coronavirus protocols around the Thanksgiving holiday. Players will be required to mask and get tested twice following Thanksgiving. (RELATED: David Hookstead Is The True King In The North When It Comes To College Football)
With COVID cases rising nationwide, the NFL is implementing heightened protocols around Thanksgiving — including mandatory masking and testing all players and staff twice after the holiday — and encouraging clubs to offer testing for visiting friends and family, per sources.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) November 17, 2021
The mask mandate applies indoors and runs from Thanksgiving (Nov. 25) through Dec. 1 for all players and staff, regardless of vaccination status. All players and staff will be tested the Monday and Wednesday after the holiday.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) November 17, 2021
It’s very obvious that the NFL is worried about players gathering around people for Thanksgiving and testing positive.
As we all know, the NFL has done a solid job getting players vaccinated, but there’s no guarantee being vaccinated means you won’t test positive.
The NFL announced the changes in a memo Tuesday to clubs, who were also reminded they should enforce off-field restrictions on unvaccinated players and violations “may result in discipline against the club if it is found that the club has failed to enforce these Protocols.” Memo: pic.twitter.com/29zEqJnimi
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) November 17, 2021
Do I think all of this is necessary? At this point, I’ve just assumed that players have been doing what they want for a long time.
I went back to living life normally summer 2020. Does anyone believe that NFL players aren’t gathering around friends and family outside of Thanksgiving?
I can promise you that they do.
With Covid numbers climbing around the country, the NFL is going back to requiring masking while indoors at team facilities throughout the Thanksgiving holiday.
— Sam Farmer (@LATimesfarmer) November 17, 2021
So far, not a single NFL game has been postponed because of COVID-19. It just seems like this might be an overreaction and players are doing a good enough job looking after themselves and being responsible. Then again, I’m not a medical expert! So, there’s no guarantee that I’m correct. Just some food for thought.