Tuesday morning, the Denver Broncos sent out a statement through the NFL Players Association that they will be opting out of voluntary mini-camp workouts.
It was widely expected that the NFLPA would do this, and more teams are sure to follow suit, but it is noteworthy that the Broncos were the first team to make the announcement.
“Playing in the NFL is a dream of our players who work tirelessly year-round to perform in America’s greatest game,’ the Broncos players’ statement said. “With offseason programs starting in less than a week and without adequate protocols in place in order for us players to return safely, we will be exercising our right to not participate in voluntary offseason workouts. COVID-19 remains a serious threat to our families and to our communities, and it makes no sense for us as players to put ourselves at risk during this dead period. Positivity rates in our city are higher than they were at this time last year and we know players have been infected at club facilities in recent weeks. Despite having a completely virtual offseason last year, the quality of play across the NFL was better than ever by almost every measure. We hope players across the NFL work with our union as we did to get all of the facts so every player can make an informed decision.”
The major concern for Broncos Country is that this could lead to an injury-riddled season, as we saw in 2020 when off-season programs were reduced.
Also on Tuesday morning, NFL Network’s Tom Pelisseroo reported that the NFL sent out a memo that will prevent any team employee from having Tier 1 or Tier 2 status if they haven’t received the COVID-19.
The NFL informed clubs today any team employee who refuses a COVID-19 vaccination without “bona fide medical or religious ground” will be barred from Tier 1 or Tier 2 status, and thus have restricted access within the team facility and not work directly with players, per sources.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) April 13, 2021
The only exemption will be for employees that have a serious medical or religious reason.
The only people allowed into restricted areas are Tier 1 (players, coaches, trainers, and other personnel that has direct contact with the players) and Tier 2 (front office staff, some assistant coaches, security officials, and other essential workers in close proximity with players). However, the memo does exclude players from the vaccine requirement.
In other words, this rule will make any restricted part of the team facility off-limits to non-vaccinated personnel, essentially giving them the same access to the facility that the media or the public has.
The memo also asks that team use their stadium and/or facility to help their team employees get vaccinated; hold information sessions to educate team employees and players on the vaccines and address any concerns; and report on a weekly basis how many team employees have been vaccinated.