Four Down Territory: Preseason Walktrough

Listen, a lot has happened since we last spoke.

Tom Brady and Gronk now reside in Tampa Bay, Cam Newton has the Patriots warming up to gospel music, Matt Rhule flipped the head coaching job at BAYLOR in to the Panthers gig, Teddy Bridgewater is finally going to get a shot as a starter since his knee injury in 2017, and the Washington football team decided to drop their racist name and mascot.

Oh yeah, a pandemic hit the entire globe.

COVID has ripped through the U.S. killing more than 185 thousand people. Millions have survived the disease but long term effects have yet to be seen. More than 60 players have tested positive for COVID; the most famous being Von Miller (who is now out for the year with what appears to be an ankle injury.) The Broncos future HOF linebacker detailed his that the mixture of his asthma and COVID made things ‘frightening.’

As the NFL preps for a season in the midst of a pandemic the obvious question remains.

Is this a good idea?

The MLB, NBA, and WNBA decided to hit the GO button and start, or resume, their seasons.

MLB did a horrendous job protocol wise which left the Marlins in the middle of a breakout.

The NBA and WNBA decided to explore the bubble route. Both leagues set up a safe spot in Florida and had players and team personnel fly in. After a 14 day quarantine and negative tests they were allowed inside the bubble for play to resume. Both leagues are thriving and play has gone on as normal.

Where will the NFL fall on that spectrum? Probably closer to baseball than their basketball counterparts.

Some would argue that the NFL should’ve went the bubble route and there’s more to that than meets the eye. It’s easier for the NBA to pull this off because rosters are smaller at 15 per team. Each NFL team fields a 53 man roster on Sundays. Counting players only the NBA had a total of 330 players in the bubble (only 22 teams were invited). If the NFL went that route they would have to house 1,696 players. This doesn’t include the 16 practice squad players each team gets to sign, coaches, team personnel, owners, etc.. That’s a herculean effort to say the least.

Another factor is the amount of time in the bubble. Currently, the NBA champion will have spent about 14 weeks in the bubble. The Super Bowl champion will have spent over 21 weeks isolated from freinds and family. NBA players that make it to the second round of the playoffs are allowed four family members to visit. That’s about eight weeks. If the NFL followed that same model players would have to wait 18 weeks to see loved ones.

Again, herculean and a hard ask.

The NFL cancelled preseason to help lower the chance of the disease spreading and that’s a good start but without creating a bubble they’re putting a lot of pressure on teams to make sure players are following protocol and doing the things needed to insure the safest season as possible.

It’s easy to see how that’s going to be a struggle, right?

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