The NFL has informed teams that they want to make a push to get players and personnel vaccinated for COVID-19 in a recent memo. The memo includes mandatory vaccinations for “Tier 1 and 2 employees other than players unless they have a bona fide medical or religious grounds for not doing so.”
The NFL and NFLPA would have to agree to a vaccine mandate for players, but the NFL will have teams “report on a weekly basis the number of employees who have been vaccinated.” As the percentage of vaccinated employees goes up, the NFL will negotiate with the NFLPA to lessen restrictions once a certain threshold is met. A similar rule has been implemented in Major League Baseball, where teams that hit 85 percent vaccinations will have restrictions eased.
You can check out the whole memo below:
In a memo sent to teams today, the NFL is encouraging players and personnel to get vaccinated. Team facilities were safest place to be in the community. NFL believes it will make it even safer and help return to normalcy - no testing, won’t have to wear a mask or tracking device. pic.twitter.com/DTsOlRmgDk
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) April 13, 2021
While this is happening, the NFLPA has encouraged players to not participate in any voluntary face-to-face offseason workouts. Today, the Denver Broncos let it be known they will boycott any voluntary offseason programs.
A statement on behalf of the Denver Broncos players: pic.twitter.com/b7ZQZ1Z7PY
— NFLPA (@NFLPA) April 13, 2021
We will likely see more teams do the same as the Broncos did here. At this point it appears there will be some contention between the union and the NFL as to how these workouts will progress while also considering the rate of player vaccinations.
In the end, these issues likely won’t impact any pre- or regular season games, but will guide the amount of on-field work that will be done this offseason.