Veteran cornerback Chris Harris Jr. decided to begin the next chapter of his NFL career when he signed with the Los Angeles Chargers in free agency, but Harris anticipates he will have to wait before making his debut in L.A.
Harris said he believes the start of the regular season will be pushed back due to the uncertainty of the coronavirus pandemic (via Riley Gates of 247 Sports):
“I’m expecting it to get pushed back, that’s what I’m expecting. That’s how I see it happening,” Harris said. “But you never know what’s going to happen. Of course I would love to do the whole full schedule and to have fans there, to have it be normal, but we just don’t know what it’s going to be looking like. I don’t think the NFL knows yet. So we’ve kind of got to wait on them to give us that direction.”
Despite Harris' expectations for when the season could start for the Chargers and other teams, the NFL has yet to give any real indication they will push things back. They still intend to release the 2020 schedule next weekend, with Week 1 slated for Sept. 10.
League spokesman Brian McCarthy said the NFL will make adjustments accordingly and listen to health experts, but they still plan to begin on time (via Jeremy Fowler of ESPN):
“If we have to make adjustments, we will be prepared to do so based on the latest guidance from our medical experts and public health officials and current and future government regulations,” McCarthy said.
But while the NFL awaits further advisory from other public health officials, players like Harris are still uncertain just how much time they will have to prepare.
The league postponed organized team activities (OTAs) indefinitely, and there is no real target date for team workouts or the start of training camps.
Needless to say, there are still plenty of logistics for the NFL to sift through, and–as the Chargers cornerback iterated–it might result in a delayed start.
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