In recent weeks, the NFL Players Association and the NFL officials have made strides in ensuring every precaution and measure is set before players and staff begin the 2020 preseason.
Earlier in July, the two parties agreed to a 40-plus page document that covered protocols from everything from team/player travel to treatment response. Most recently, the player’s union was finally given their request for foregoing preseason games, which took the league a while to grant.
One issue that remains unresolved or uncertain is the Oakley face shields the NFL has been pushing for.
Mike Garafolo of the NFL Network provided an update on the issue on Twitter. Garafolo reported that the face shields will not be required but the league but will simply recommend players to wear them. Garafolo added that has been pushing for the shields to born by everyone.
In the photo provided, we can vaguely see a sketch of the said face shields, which will seemingly include severals that compose of filters and ventilation mechanisms for players’ breathing.
Update on the face shields the NFL developed with Oakley to prevent the spread of Covid: The expectation is they will be recommended but NOT required for players, a source informed of talks between the NFL and NFLPA says. The league had been pushing for them to be worn by all. pic.twitter.com/ikar8AmEF0
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) July 23, 2020
According to an article by the Associated Press, the NFLPA’s medical director, Dr. Thom Mayer, was one of the proponents of this idea. The notion of wearing face masks to lessen the risk of spreading the virus between NFL players was then brought to life by league engineers and Oakley.
All 32 clubs will have them on hand for players to test when they report to camp. But again, the expectation is they won’t be required. Meanwhile, the league and Oakley are already working on version 2.0.
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) July 23, 2020
Garofolo added that each NFL team will be provided with the face shields at the beginning of camp so players can test them out but he reiterated that it won’t be a requirement for them to play.
Version 2.0 of the prototype is also in the works.
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