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Nearly two-thirds of NFL teams players now say they won't attend voluntary workouts

cassandra negley
Women's basketball reporter
·2 min read
47

There are now 19 teams whose players say they will not report to voluntary offseason NFL workouts without COVID-19 protocols.

The list has been growing since Tuesday when Denver Broncos players announced they will not show up to voluntary, in-person workouts. They released a statement through the NFL Players Association and over half the league followed suit in the ensuing days.

19 teams will not report to voluntary workouts

The Philadelphia Eagles became the 19th team on Sunday morning when their players announced through the NFLPA they would not be attending. The 19 teams are 59 percent of the 32 teams in the league.

The Eagles' statement echos ones released by other teams and notes the solidarity of players.

The current list of teams as it stands at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday is as follows:

Denver Broncos, Seattle Seahawks, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Detroit Lions, New England Patriots, Chicago Bears, Cleveland Browns, New York Giants, Las Vegas Raiders, Pittsburgh Steelers, Atlanta Falcons, Los Angeles Chargers, New York Jets, Miami Dolphins, Los Angeles Rams, San Francisco 49ers, New Orleans Saints, Baltimore Ravens, Philadelphia Eagles.

NFL offseason schedule

Broncos players, led by NFLPA rep Brandon McManus and star safety Justin Simmons, crafted their statement on a call Monday night. There is concern among players about how the NFL is treating COVID-19 procedures and safety. Voluntary in-person workouts were not held last summer in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The NFL has indicated its expectation that players return to regularly scheduled programming even amidst the pandemic. Teams typically have voluntary workouts in April ahead of the NFL draft and in May following the draft. The mandatory workouts are in June.

The league announced last week that it told all 32 teams that Tier 1 and 2 employees (which does not count players) should "expect to be vaccinated" unless they have a bona fide medical or religious ground for not doing so.”

Any employee who refuses sans exemption won't have access to restricted areas of the facility and cannot work directly with players.

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