Some significant rule changes due to CV-19 for the NFL.
H/T Chevss
Players can now “opt-out” of 2020 as high risk or just because… -High risk players who opt-out get $350K plus get credit for an accrued season. -Low risk players who opt-out get $150K and no credit for the season. Aug. 3 is the deadline for declaring under the opt-out rules. The first player to opt-out is KC Chiefs OG Laurent Duvernay-Tardiff. He’s a physician who will treat COVID victims. Franchise tagged players can opt-out but their guaranteed money under the tag becomes void. Some players, Jamal Adams, for example, who want to be traded just gained tons of leverage! The NFL and NFLPA have reached agreements on these things as well.
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Training camps will still begin July 28, but the acclimation period players sought will take place. No full-padded practices will occur until August 17, Lindsay Jones of The Athletic tweets. Eight days of strength and conditioning will first take place before four days of helmets-and-shells work commences, Jones adds. Days 1-6 of camp will consist of COVID-19 testing and virtual meetings, per SI.com’s Albert Breer (on Twitter). This year’s camps will feature a maximum of 14 padded practices. That is down by just two from the 2020 CBA’s limitation but down considerably from last year’s setup.
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Teams do not have to cut rosters down from 90 to 80 players — a long-rumored scenario in this COVID-19 reality — until they begin practicing in pads August 16, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. This will remind of the recent past, when teams needed to trim their rosters from 90 to 75 players before ultimately cutting down to 53.
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As expected, practice squads will expand from 12 to 16 players. However, a key caveat exists to protect teams from losing higher-end P-squad talent. Teams can protect four players from being poached by other teams on a weekly basis, Mark Maske of the Washington Post tweets. Normally, teams can sign other franchises’ practice squad players if they promote them to the 53-man roster. In this historically unusual year, teams can block certain players from such advancement and teams can have up to six players with unlimited experience on their taxi squads.
I forget where it landed, but are there going to be any preseason games?
I don’t think so.