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Tom Brady and his Tampa Bay Buccaneers teammates caused a bit of a stir in the NFL when they held a private workout on Tuesday and again on Thursday in Florida.
Just days before, the NFLPA recommended players avoid orchestrating workouts and remain as isolated as possible given a recent influx of positive tests for COVID-19 around the league and the country.
Dr. Allen Sills — the NFL's Chief Medical Officer — acknowledged Brady and company were not in violation of league mandate given they practiced away from the team facility (via ESPN's Kevin Seifert):
To be clear, neither Brady nor any of his teammates are in violation of NFL rules. They’re working out on their own, away from team facilities, as they’re allowed to do. But @NFLPA has advised against it, and Sills/NFL is on the same page.
— Kevin Seifert (@SeifertESPN) June 25, 2020
However, Sills noted members of all 32 teams will need to cooperate and work together in order to ensure a safer environment for one another (via Seifert):
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“Again, this is all about risk reduction and trying to mitigate risk. We know that we can't eliminate risk. We will work very much hand-in-hand with the players association. This is where everyone in that team environment is going to share the same risks, but they'll also share the same responsibilities with each other, which means that everyone is going to be dependent on every other member of that team environment, for doing the very best that they can to implement these measures and keep themselves and their household members as safe as possible throughout the course of the season.”
The NFL and NFLPA will indeed need to work together on a number of health and safety issues.
Commissioner Roger Goodell said Thursday training camps would proceed on schedule. But, given the massive increase in positive COVID-19 cases in recent weeks, the league will almost certainly have to come up with a strict set of protocols.
Perhaps the time will come when the NFL outright bans player-led workouts. Until then, however, Sills and the NFLPA can only advise against such gatherings.
