The coronavirus pandemic truly altered the way the league is going to be operated moving forward. One of the uncertainties heading into the upcoming season is the protocol for teams depleted by infected players. One band-aid solution to is to promote a practice player in the event that a player tests positive for the coronavirus. The league seems adamant on making it as easy as possible to do just that.
According to Pro Football Talk on NBC Sports:
“The league’s proposal to the NFL Players Association contemplates broad expansion of the rules regarding the practice squad to allow for the promotion of players at any point up to 90 minutes before kickoff.”
“For starters, the practice squad will be expanded from 12 to 16 players. Up to six members of the practice squad will have no limitation on the number of accrued seasons, meaning that a team can have a half-dozen veterans of unlimited experience ready to go at a moment’s notice.”
“The proposal points out that the existing Contagious Disease Policy allows for the promotion of a minimum of six practice-squad players in the event of an outbreak. For 2020, the minimum will be removed to allow for any number of players to be promoted in the event of a COVID-19 outbreak.”
In line with this, the league must first implement a regular COVID swabbing test for all the players and coaches before they take on the field. This will help ensure that all personnel involved have already tested negative which will help mitigate the spreading of the virus. All it takes is one player to be positive to derail the capabilities of an entire team to participate in the upcoming season. If that happens, NFL teams might have to bring in the whole practice squad to play in their place.
The league will still push through with their scheduled dates amidst the coronavirus pandemic. The teams' training camps are still set to open on July 28 and the kickoff game will be slated on September 10.
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