The NFL (National Football League) has been trying to keep their players and coaches safe from the Covid-19 through an extensive list of protocols that have been taking place throughout the league for months.

     Unlike the NBA (National Basketball Association), the NFL didn’t choose a bubble environment where all the players and coaches are in one location; the NBA did a great job dealing with Covid-19 with zero cases because they took on this “bubble” precaution. This would be impractical for the NFL because there are a lot more coaches, players, and staff per team.

     Freshman Jaden Prosser said that he didn’t like the way the players could do whatever they wanted after a practice. In Prosser’s eyes, the players being uncontrolled outside of the field would allow the virus to spread more easily to family, friends, or other people in public.

     On Oct. 10, some of the New York Giants players were seen at a bar without a mask.  According to sportingnews.com, if an NFL player attends a bar with ten or more people without wearing a mask, which those players on the Giants were doing, they can be fined. However, the players never got fined and had little to no discipline as it was handled internally by the Giants. 

     Prosser also said that he thinks the NFL is being too laid back and dislikes that they continue to play games case after case. He believes there should be stricter protocols for players in order to reduce risk.

     On the field, the NFL isn’t changing much. They are offering to put a plastic mouth shield built onto the player’s masks; however, not many players are wearing them.

     However, this year there was no pre-season besides a limited training camp with no tackling. Freshman football player Jack Beaupre said, “All we do at practice is conditioning, and we use no equipment besides a football.” Beaupre also said that he hated how there was no contact practice, with no pads were used. There are no pads and no contact practices happening in most places and leagues across the country, similar to what is happening in the NFL for some practices.

     According to Espn.com, two-thirds of people said they wouldn’t attend an indoor sporting event without a vaccine. The same amount of fans wouldn’t even go if everyone was wearing a mask and social distancing in place. These fans would rather wait on a vaccine than trust personal equipment, like a mask or a face shield, along with social distancing to keep them safe in a large crowd.

     The NFL gave a choice to their players if they wanted to play or not. Most of the players said yes. Some of the notable players to say no are Patrick Chung, Marquise Goodwin, and Travis Benjamin. These players are valuable to any football team; the fact they sat out might be telling something about the NFL and their Covid-19 policies.  According to Espn.com one of the only restrictions that the players have to follow off the field is wearing a contact tracing device while traveling.  If a multi-billion dollar industry can’t control this virus on the field, how can the NFL let their players do whatever they want off the field?