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The NFL no longer has the luxury of time to figure out its coronavirus return

20 July 2020
 Dan Ackermann

When the pandemic arrived and upended the world, the NFL was the only major American sports league with the luxury of time.

The big picture: The clock has now run out — and on the eve of training camp, it's still remarkably unclear what the preseason and regular season will look like, particularly in regards to health and safety.

Driving the news: In a coordinated Twitter blitz on Sunday, NFL stars used the hashtag #WeWantToPlay to express their concern — publicly — about the lack of detailed health and safety protocols as rookies begin arriving at camp.

  • Russell Wilson: "I am concerned. My wife is pregnant. NFL training camp is about to start. And there's still no clear plan on player health & family safety. We want to play football but we also want to protect our loved ones."
  • J.J. Watt tweeted a list of what players do and don't know. "We still do not know if there will be daily testing," he wrote. "We still do not know if there will be preseason games ... We still do not know how a positive COVID test will be handled in regards to others in close contact."

The state of play: The NFL sent a league-wide memo on Saturday confirming that rookies will report to camp on Monday and Tuesday. QBs and injured players report Thursday, while all other players are scheduled to arrive next Tuesday, July 28.

  • The NFLPA wants daily testing, no preseason games and a 45-day "ramp-up" period (21 days of strength and conditioning, 10 days of non-padded practices and 14 days of "contact acclimation").
  • The NFL still wants two preseason games and hasn't agreed to the "ramp-up" period. Under the collective bargaining agreement, the league has the right to impose report dates and teams can fine players if they don't show up.

What's next: The #WeWantToPlay blitz sets the stage for the NFLPA to file a grievance over unsafe working conditions if the union hasn't signed off on protocols by the time players show up at camp.

  • What happens with rookies this week will determine next steps, but the union is prepared to file, a source told ESPN's Jeremy Fowler, and that will buy players time to try to finalize terms before veterans arrive next week.

The bottom line: One could blame the NFL and NFLPA for remaining so far apart despite a four-month head start. One could also blame America's botched coronavirus response, which rendered that head start virtually worthless.

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.