I have trouble envisioning a functional 2020 NFL season.

[Sunstroke]

I'm having a really hard time seeing players and teams doing what needs to be done to get through a season.

Exactly...Good luck telling entitled young millionaires what they can and cannot do with their time.

[BuccaneerBrad]

Exactly...Good luck telling entitled young millionaires what they can and cannot do with their time.

You can tell them what the consequences will be based on what they choose to do with their time.  For example, if they choose to opt out of playing this season, they don't get paid.  Period and end of discussion. 

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

Exactly...Good luck telling entitled young millionaires what they can and cannot do with their time.

Only way to have it work is sequestering everyone to the same degree it is being done at West Point or the Navel Academy. 

[Dolphster]

Only way to have it work is sequestering everyone to the same degree it is being done at West Point or the Navel Academy. 

Cadets at the military academies are allowed "leave" just like their "regular" military counterparts.  Based upon grades, what year they are in, etc., cadets are granted leave and are not sequestered on Academy grounds.  Granted, they can't just get up and head out on the town for the evening without leave though. 

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

Cadets at the military academies are allowed "leave" just like their "regular" military counterparts.  Based upon grades, what year they are in, etc., cadets are granted leave and are not sequestered on Academy grounds.  Granted, they can't just get up and head out on the town for the evening without leave though. 

Normally - yes.  This year - no. They have created a protective bubble.

[Dolphster]

Normally - yes.  This year - no. They have created a protective bubble.

Interesting.  I wasn't aware of that.  I stand corrected. 

[Pappy13]

I predict the season will go on. There will be many outbreaks to start the season, the players will go on reserve for a couple days to a week maybe even 2 if they get really sick (most won't) and then they will return to the team. To start the year there will be a lot of turnover, but as the season wears on their will be fewer and fewer as the players build up anti-bodies against it and as the medical staff figures out how to treat it. By the end of the year there will be 1 or 2 players per team that have Covid, they'll miss a week or so and be back. How's that any different from a normal football season where players are unavailable for a week or 2 and then come back? The NFL will adapt because it's better suited to players missing time due to injury, this will just be due to illness rather then injury then other sports. It will take some time and there will be a LOT of talk about it, but in the end it will be a distraction rather then cancel the games.

[Dave Gray]

I am glad that baseball started and has already had this outbreak.  It shows the NFL what has to be done.  Is it too late for these teams to bubble?

[Phishfan]

Seriously Pappy, a couple days off for a Covid positive. What have you been doing the past several months?

[Pappy13]

Seriously Pappy, a couple days off for a Covid positive. What have you been doing the past several months?

Who says that everyone who lands on the list will test positive? There will be more then a couple that will have symptoms, go on the list and then test negative and be back to work in a day or 2. I think it's already happened. Maybe they don't land on the list, but I don't think the teams are going to take that chance. If you have any symptoms you are going to be isolated and placed on the list till your test comes back clean. I think we all need to start to get used to the idea that the show will go on. Things will change, but the show will go on. Not just in sports but in everything. We will learn to adapt to this new normal. Hopefully it's only until there's a vaccine and then things get back to normal completely.

Edit: Following up on my earlier thoughts, I read yesterday that if someone does test positive then anyone they have come into contact with will be placed on the list until they can be tested and either cleared or test positive themselves. I thiink it's very likely that you will see people put on the list, get tested and cleared to play again in a day or 2.

[Pappy13]

Don't know if anyone read this but I found it interesting. The wave of the future? It's behind a paywall but you can register for free. Not sure how long that lasts though.

https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/nfl/miami-dolphins/article244623232.html

[Dolphster]

With the crazy number of Miami Marlins players out with covid and replaced by minor leaguers on the baseball side of sports, I'm almost wondering if this NFL season won't look a lot like the replacement players strike season before it is all said and done.   

[Downunder Dolphan]

So... with my experience from the major winter sport down under (which is also a multi-billion dollar sport that takes some of it's major cues from the NFL): In short... set your expectations low for the year, and you may not be disappointed.

We had a pretty rough time of it here despite having a relatively low levels of Covid-19 compared to the USA. Even with that we started with one week of a real season followed by three months of total shutdown, after which the professional player interaction and skills went to complete shit...

When we came back in June there were severe training restrictions, and even now there is still a maximum 8 player training groups with limited body contact that has severely limited the skill level. Many teams were moved to hubs away from their facilities and staff have been cut for both monetary and safety reasons.

This has led to a huge drop in the quality of this years competition for the majority of the year - the shortened 16 minute (plus time on) quarters compared to the usual 20 minutes to add extra games in a short time to complete the season has not exactly helped either...

Then there are the breaks between games as little as 4 days - it's an inequality between teams, plus it also pushes the very boundaries of game recovery and the limits of team lists for what is a full contact sport. At one stage the league had something like 30 games in 30 days - it's just really too much, and many of the games have not been that entertaining.

That said, with a week to go it ultimately it looks like the AFL is on the verge of achieving the goal of completing a 17 game season (usually 22) with just the finals (playoffs) to be played before the end of October, but it has been messy and difficult.

I hope the NFL has a smoother run of it.