With a slew of NFL players already opting out of the upcoming 2020 campaign, the league now has a hard deadline for players to come to such a conclusion. According to a Monday evening report from Adam Schefter of ESPN, the deadline for NFL players to opt out of the 2020-21 season has been set for Thursday, August 6th at 4 p.m. Eastern Time.

It is also worth noting that the NFL has yet to release a formal statement in regards to the Thursday deadline, though one can still assume that more players will ultimately elect to opt out before the end of the week.

As it stands today, the heralded New England Patriots have had the most players choose to opt out of the 2020-21 campaign — and by a mile, at that. With the Patriots already encountering a whopping eight players that have decided to wait for the 2021-22 season, including a few key figures within the organization, tight end Matt LaCosse, wide receiver Marqise Lee, defensive back Patrick Chung, linebacker Dont'a Hightower, running back Brandon Bolden, offensive tackle Marcus Cannon, fullback Danny Vitale and offensive lineman Najee Toran have all notified New England of their respective decisions. The Dallas Cowboys sit behind the Patriots in this respect as the NFC East franchise has had three players opt out including fullback Jamize Olawale, wide receiver Stephen Guidry and cornerback Maurice Canady.

With Thursday now just a few days away, 23 of the 32 NFL franchises have already had at least one player choose to opt out with a few current free agents also electing such a fate for 2020.

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