NFLPA Recommends Players Don't Attend Voluntary Workouts In Light Of Continuing COVID Pandemic
PHILADELPHIA (CBS)- The Philadelphia Eagles, like all NFL teams, are preparing for the start of the offseason schedule which this year was set to begin on April 19 with the start of voluntary workouts. However, on Tuesday, NFL Players Association Executive Director DeMaurice Smith and president JC Tretter sent a letter to the league's players recommending that they skip those voluntary workouts due to the current state of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the letter, Smith and Tretter state that despite the fact that the association has been in negotiations with the NFL over a virtual offseason but neither side appears ready to move off their respective positions. The letter states that the NFLPA believes that the same offseason that the league had last season is in the best interest of all involved again this year.
"We believe that having the same offseason rules as last year is in the best interest of both the players and gives us the best chance to completing a full NFL season in 2021."
The Eagles, with a new head coach in Nick Sirianni would, under normal circumstances, have the opportunity to begin their workouts earlier than teams with incumbent coaches. However, the continued presence of COVID-19 saw the league make the change to the April 19 date for all teams.
According to Pelissero, the league's latest proposal to the NFLPA was to have the first two weeks of the offseason be virtual with in-person workouts beginning after that period. The union would prefer that all offseason activities prior to the start of training camp be virtual.
The union has already put out statements on behalf of the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks players saying that they will not participate in the voluntary workouts set to begin Monday.
