NFL pressuring players to get vaccinated against COVID-19

Courtesy of Michael Ainsworth

"If you want to go back to normal, get vaccinated."

Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians was blunt in front of local reporters when asked about the NFL's newly announced preseason and training camp guidelines. Arians is encouraging as many players to get vaccinated as possible, and hosted a clinic at the Buccaneers facility for medical experts to educate the team on the efficacy of the available vaccines, and provide vaccine stations for players who choose to get them. He says he understands the players are free to choose, but has reiterated that normal, pre-pandemic operation is impossible if the team cannot reach herd immunity.

"I think everybody is tired of meeting out here and eating outside and doing all those things we had to do last year. It's still a personal choice, but I don't see a reason not to be vaccinated."

Courtesy of Chris O'Meara

With a new season on the horizon and the national recovery efforts from the COVID-19 pandemic ongoing, Arians is hoping to return to pre-pandemic operation. But from the law laid down by the NFL, that will be impossible unless players get vaccinated. The league is dialing back its COVID-19-based restrictions for players and coaches who receive vaccines, but reinforcing uncompromising regulations for those who do not.

On Wednesday, the NFL and NFL Players Association announced updated training camp and preseason protocols on the heels of the new season, including the unyielding rules Arians and many other coaches are hoping to avoid. NFL Network's Tom Pelissero reported the memo sent out to all 32 clubs, detailing the protocols, specifically differentiating the protocols fully vaccinated and unvaccinated players must adhere to in the upcoming season.

The NFL and NFLPA have agreed to updated COVID-19 protocols for 2021 training camp and preseason, per source.

How different will life by for vaccinated and unvaccinated players? From the memo that just went to clubs: pic.twitter.com/8yMPW0JBWZ

— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) June 16, 2021

Vaccinated personnel will be tested once every 14 days, but will no longer be required to quarantine or isolate after testing positive or coming into close contact with someone else infected with the virus. The mask mandates and social distancing guidelines will be relaxed, and players will be able to eat at the team dining hall, lift in the weight room, go to the pool, travel, and operate as per usual without any restrictions. Vaccination for players virtually unlocks pre-pandemic freedom. Unvaccinated players will be far more shackled.

Unvaccinated personnel are subject to daily testing, and face quarantine mandates if they test positive or if they are identified as high-risk close contacts. They are also subject to severe restrictions including flying on separate planes for road games, isolating in hotel rooms away from teammates after a negative COVID test, ban from gathering with teammates or friends outside of work, and a ban from attending nightclubs, concerts, parties, and any large public gatherings. Any infringement on one of these restriction subjects the player to a steep fine. The NFL and clubs can fine the player $50,000 solely on first offense. The rules will be equally as restrictive on the unvaccinated population in the NFL as they were on the entire league in the 2020 season with vaccines unavailable at the height of the pandemic.

The NFL noted that they will grant exemptions on an individual basis for people not to receive the vaccine for religious or medical reasons. But anyone who lacks legitimate grounds not to be vaccinated in the eyes of the league will be sternly handcuffed. As far as the NFL is concerned, the strongest protection against COVID-19 is getting vaccinated, including the Commissioner.

“We do think players and all personnel are safer if they’re vaccinated,” said Roger Goodell last month. “I don’t know of a single medical source that is respected that doesn’t believe that and doesn’t believe that vaccines not only work and are effective but are also safe.”

The league has designed regulations to incentivize players to choose to be vaccinated, by constructing sets of rules and protocols majorly inconveniencing players who choose not to be vaccinated. While the league is empowering the players by granting them the right to choose, the revised guidelines will pressure unvaccinated players to change their minds, to be prevalently available for their teams.

The newly announced guidelines have received mixed reviews from the players, and outcry from players who will be severely handcuffed by them. According to a league source, slightly more than half of NFL players are partially or fully vaccinated against COVID-19. The number treads closely to the nationwide vaccination percentages, which the CDC reports to be nearly 45 percent of the United States population to be fully vaccinated. While half the population is a considerable amount, the other half is crucial to restoring normality to every day life, especially for the NFL. The unvaccinated half have either received one of two shots from the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, or are resisting the shots entirely.

People are questioning the efficacy and safety of the vaccines, and decrying management enforcing vaccine mandates to be able to go back to work. Coaches and agents are reportedly saying the players are resistant to "being told what to do." In the NFL, no player has been more vocal on the choice not to be vaccinated than Buffalo Bills wide receiver Cole Beasley.

Courtesy of Adrian Kraus

An otherwise quiet presence on social media, Beasley has vocalized his feelings in a series of back-and-forth Twitter exchanges with fans, in response to abusive outcries that he and his Bills teammates get vaccinated. On Friday, Beasley sent out a public service announcement on Twitter, declaring his stance.

Public Service Announcement pic.twitter.com/XjQicdvnKm

— Cole Beasley (@Bease11) June 18, 2021

Beasley says he will refuse the COVID-19 vaccine and ignore the laws laid down by the league, whether they fine him or not. He says his decision comes down to what he thinks is best for himself and his family. Beasley goes as far to say he will stay unvaccinated even if it means the league forces him into retirement. The decision to get vaccinated has proven to be a divisive topic in the United States and in the microcosmic NFL, and Beasley knew he was speaking on behalf of many other players across the entire league, especially his own team.

A handful of Beasley's teammates have becomes thorns in the NFL vaccine forum. Quarterback Josh Allen says he is still mulling if he will take it, and safety Jordan Poyer told the media at mandatory minicamps that he does not want to answer any questions about it at all. Washington defesive end Montez Sweat said that he is "not a fan" of the vaccine and likely will not get it. Panthers quarterback Sam Darnold says he hasn't gotten vaccinated, and other quarterbacks like the Vikings' Kirk Cousins, the Ravens' Lamar Jackson, and Jets rookie Zach Wilson each said they have made a personal decision in their best interest without disclosing it.

The decision to get vaccinated against COVID-19 is more than a contentious political discourse, it has traction to have true imprints on the 2021 NFL season. The revised guidelines set forth by the league unquestionably favor teams who are widely vaccinated.

Teams can practice and scrimmage together, hold in-person meetings in the same space, bond in and outside the facility, and navigate the week as they did before the 2020 season. Teams that fall short of the novel herd immunity will be unable to drop the league rules, and have to continue adhering to 2020 protocols. Unvaccinated players are also at higher risk of contracting COVID-19, and imperil their availability if they test positive for the virus. The vaccines are not 100 percent effective in preventing infection, but they provide considerable strength against contracting COVID-19.

Deciding not to get vaccinated by the season puts players at greater risk of becoming infected, and passing the virus along to other unvaccinated teammates. A number of NFL teams notably faced stiff competitive challenges during the season thanks to COVID-19 outbreaks. In 2020, the Ravens listed 23 players who either tested positive for COVID-19 or were deemed high-risk close contacts on the reserve/COVID list. Their roster was completely decimated during the thick of their playoff push. The Denver Broncos were forced to field a wide receiver at quarterback when the entire quarterback room breached protocols by meeting mask-less after Jeff Driskel returned a positive test. The Cleveland Browns lost their top 4 wide receivers to contract tracing prior to a Week 16 game with a playoff berth on the line. Teams with high vaccination rates flirting with the 70-90 percent range will likely not have to combat these possibilities, but teams with much lower rates will still have to test every day, social distance, wear masks, and quarantine when protocol is activated. There are undeniable competitive disadvantages that would kick in during football season if players decide not to get vaccinated.

Courtesy of Alika Jenner

For players, the choice is optional. For coaches, scouts, and all other staff members, the choice is not theirs to make. The NFL is requiring all staff to be vaccinated in order to come into work. Coaches who refuse the vaccine will lose Tier 1 status from the league, which grants them access to the field on game day and during practice, meeting rooms, and team facilities. The NFL created a tier system prior to last season to minimize traffic in team facilities, so only people that needed access to the players were granted it.

Vaccination rates among coaches are much higher since that is the only way they can coach the players in-person. The coaches are also largely encouraging their players to make the decision to get vaccinated. Washington head coach Ron Rivera brought in a Harvard immunologist to speak to the team and quell misinformation surrounding the vaccines, and encourage more players to roll up their sleeves. "The big thing is we've got to be able to facilitate the opportunity for these guys to understand," Rivera said. "There's a lot of messaging that's out there; they get it off of Twitter and some of it is good, some of it is bad. I'm not sure if these guys watch the news as much as I do and try to gather enough information, but we are really trying to help them, because if we can get to that herd immunity, we can really cut it loose and really be able to spend time with each other."

The message from coaches has been consistent that it will be tremendously beneficial to reach herd immunity and conduct their weekly preparations together, without the baggage of COVID-19 restrictions. While 4 team assistant coaching staffs are reportedly resistant to taking the vaccine, their access to the teams will be shut down if they do not change their minds.

The NFL has manufactured several incentives to encourage the players to get vaccinated, and their decisions could play a decisive role in making final roster cuts this preseason. Last month, Bills general manager Brandon Beane was asked by a reporter if he would factor a player's vaccination status when considering to cut them or not in May. His answer:

"Yeah, I would cut them."

Beane added that it is the Bills' priority to reach the herd immunity threshold so that the team can function without any restrictions, which could compromise their competitiveness next season. "It would be an advantage to cut a player and fall under that umbrella."

Courtesy of Brett Carlsen

The league office promptly responded to Beane's comments. The NFL and NFPA immediately called Beane to tell him he is not allowed to release a player on the basis that they are unvaccinated, looking to shut down his inclination. Players are free to choose, and the league told Beane that his words are inconsistent with their policies and labor agreement.

Beane was retributed for speaking out, but he was the only one who said what others are thinking out loud. Several other general managers undeniably share the same sentiment, and would make the same decision if given the chance. Naturally, unvaccinated players on the fringe of making the roster will make the general manager's job much easier, if it means ducking the league's rules. The NFL will demand their front offices solely decide final cuts on the basis of football, but they won't be able to prevent general managers from dismissing unvaccinated players. Players will inevitably be cut for their choice not to be vaccinated, and there's nothing the NFL can do to stop it. If most players are vaccinated, then the general manager's positioning levels to the equal footing of player evaluation, and no miscellaneous influence.

As the 2021 season inches closer, the COVID-19 vaccine dialogue is not going anywhere, and will surely escalate as the campaign begins. The issue could become a catalyst for division within locker rooms, an inhibitor to teams returning to normal, and the source of unwelcome competitive imbalance once the season is in full swing. Ultimately, the NFL has given the players the opportunity to choose what they want to do. Every choice is an individual one, but will collectively frame the fabric of the new season.