Although there are no official numbers from the NFL, Ben Volin of the Boston Globe hears that the league is generally struggling to get its players vaccinated against COVID-19. Two agents that represent several dozen players between them believe less than half of the league has gotten a vaccine, and longtime agent David Canter — who represents around four dozen players — said, “Man oh man, it’s been hard to get my clients to get vaccinated. Guys are going to do what they’re going to do. They’ve never been guys who are going to kowtow to whatever the public or whatever coach wants them to do, unless their job is on the line.”
Of course, players’ jobs could be on the line if they don’t get the vaccine, even if teams aren’t allowed to say so. Bills GM Brandon Beane said last month that he would release players who refused to get vaccinated, which led to considerable backlash from the league and the union. A week ago, Buffalo head coach Sean McDermott acknowledged his concern that more of his players hadn’t yet gotten their shots.
Obviously, this is not an issue that’s limited to Orchard Park. And while NFL players, like everyone else, are entitled to make whatever decision they believe is in their best interests, the realities of their employment do make the issue inherently more complex for them. Dan Graziano of ESPN.com recently laid out the differences in protocols for players who have been vaccinated versus those who have not (Twitter link). Notably, players without the vaccine are subject to daily testing and physical distancing requirements, and if they have been exposed to the virus, they must be quarantined.
Consider a situation like the one that recently unfolded at a Browns practice, wherein several unvaccinated Cleveland players had to be sent home from the facility because they were high-risk close contacts. We saw several games in 2020 that featured clubs that were shorthanded because a number of their players were on the COVID-19 list, and teams certainly will want to do whatever possible to make sure that doesn’t happen again in 2021.
Stars and other core players aren’t going to be in danger of getting cut, but players on the fringes of a roster could be if they don’t get the vaccine. After all, if a roster decision comes down to a vaccinated player versus an unvaccinated one, a team will probably choose the player that isn’t always at risk of missing time. Officially, a player can’t get cut for their vaccination decision, but unofficially, it seems bound to happen, and it could be difficult for the NFLPA to win a grievance on that player’s behalf.
Volin says that the league and union continue to negotiate the threshold at which COVID protocols can be dropped completely, and that one potential number is 85%. In other words, if 85% of a team’s players are fully vaccinated, that team would no longer have to worry about the protocols.
Cap
How else is Elon supposed to keep track of them? He didn’t put up that massive 5G satellite network while we were all sleeping the past year plus for fun. He and Gates are controlling our thoughts!
You have a cellphone ? Use the Internet? Why would they need to go anything else.
Those are just childs play
It will come down to the ultimate ratio of risk vs. reward. If Derrick Henry refused to get vaccinated- would TEN cut him? I think not. If a 5th string, ST player refuses? Gone yesterday.
One’s play will always determine a team’s tolerance for bad behavior. Be it felonious, politically incorrect, or just aesthetically unappealing.
That’s true pretty much everywhere. Performance trumps a lot.
The league should give $$ bonuses to players who get the shot. If we know nfl players care about one thing it’s $$
Why is it not merely a personal choice? If another player chooses the vaccine then he should be fine against the other.
You don’t understand how vaccine works…and not just football. Why do you think they want 85%? Same as country goal..states is 70%. At the point the virus can’t spread and will fizzle out. Bigger issue is the world has to get there also.
Lol this is a race thing btw
No. It’s a freedom / information issue
An expiremantal va x for a disease so deadly that you need an unreliable PCR test to know if you even have it.. And we’re worried about some of the most well conditioned human beings on the planet receiving this?
I will refuse to watch / support the NFL further if they make this genetic therapy mandatory
Ok hero.
How the side effects treating you?
I had no side effects but even people who do have them, it’s usually a day or two max and then they are gone. Now I can go to baseball games, travel, and visit with friends and family knowing I’m safe and that I’ve done my part to help my community.
Perhaps many people who are concerned about the side-effects of the vaccine, aren’t so much concerned about the day or day after, of a little pain in the arm or upset stomach here or there, but about the long-term effects. What is it going to do to your body over the course of 10 years? Do you know? Does anyone? No, and that’s what’s scary about it.
And, if you have been vaccinated, and it works and helps you feel safe, then why do you care if anyone else does or does not get the vaccine, too? Either the vaccine is effective or it’s not, and it’s a personal choice.
Yeah it’s not going to do anything to your body in the next decade plus. Lol. Only morons like you believe something will happen. These types of vaccines have been tested on people for over 25 years (just not in a massive quantity like this), and no one has had a problem. So just calm your anti-science, Fox News watching self down, k pal?
What exactly is anti-science about anything I said? I asked what will taking this or any other vaccine do to our bodies over the course of our lifetimes, and no one truly knows. If you really look at all the things that have been happening over the course of the last 50-60 years—the time when a lot of vaccines, new medications, and various treatments have been developed—and also look at the overall changes in our cumulative health as a population, and how many different ailments and diseases ravish us, it’s a fair point to bring up and think about.
I’m not an anti-science person, nor do I watch Fox News (or CNN, for that matter), but I also don’t readily believe every piece of information I’m given without researching, as best I can, all sides and points of view. If science is 100% factual and “settled,” that’s one thing; the laws of gravity are facts, which no scientist disputes; the laws of motions are facts, which no scientist disputes; the laws of human biology, which state that you must have one human with XX chromosomal makeup and one human with XY chromosomal makeup to reproduce, are facts.
This vaccine, its abilities, and what it could do to a person who takes it, are not “facts.” It’s merely conjecture and hope/fear.
Also, one last point I’d like to bring up. There are billions and billions of products on the market, things to use, things to ingest, medicines to take, right? With the exception of water and oxygen, every other product available has a limited consumer market, that is, there are warnings on everything. e.g, “If you have X condition, don’t take this medication,” “If you’re blind, don’t drive a car,” “If you’re 6’5″ and weigh 250lbs, don’t sit in a Little Tykes Car,” etc. Yet this Covid Vaccine is the one thing—along with water and oxygen—that is safe and should be taken by everyone on the planet. Hmmm….
the vaccine hasn’t even been FDA approved yet so u can’t correctly say that it’s “safe” because the number one food and medicine safety agency in the USA hasn’t approved it
he/she doesn’t necessarily believe something *will* happen but no one knows if something *could* happen. he/she isn’t a moron for asking a perfectly appropriate question. no one knows if something will happen in 10 years. if in 10 years nothing happens, u can go let him/her know u were right. but until then, u don’t know if anything will happen, neither does he/she
I assume them you didn’t get a polio vaccine as well when you were younger?
Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t. I don’t have polio, nor Covid.
plus asking if someone has been vaccinated for an illness is a violation of HIPAA
Lot better then the side effects from the virus.
You mean like the side effect of being dead?
I’m not dead. And I have a much better chance of dying in a car accident, getting struck by lightning, or having an allergic reaction to manufactured chemicals I put into my body.
This is not experimental, PCR tests are not unreliable, and the vaccine does not alter your DNA. Ignorant people like you is why so many people have died and some continue to suffer long term.
Get real. Facts are simple, 97%+ of those hospitalized at this point from C19 are not fully vaccinated. Long term effects argument, getting C19 that hospitalized is known to cause long term effects to organs…that’s a fact.
Stop with the garbage arguments. If you want to fight the man or not get it for whatever reason, that’s your choice.
“Long term effects argument, getting C19 that hospitalized is known to cause long term effects to organs…that’s a fact.”
Fact? Can you cite one case of what has happened to someone 10+ years after getting Covid-19?
I assume this is sarcasm because there are zero correct statements in your post
“Genetic therapy”
Ok guy
I’m not a Corona Bro but the vaccines are remarkable. No problem if people pass on it but at least base it on accurate information not bs.
No one should be forced to be vaxxed. Some people don’t feel comfortable with medicine, especially a new medicine. aside from the fact that it’s a terrible vaccine and is completely experimental, even if it’s been developed and tested for 20 yrs, no one should be forced. Some people just don’t trust medicine no matter how good it is. vaccine mandate or no vaccine mandate, this virus has a 99.75% survival rate.
Those people should only mingle with people who feel the same way and be allowed no contact with anyone else including their kids and their families who don’t believe the same. Just because you don’t believe in science doesn’t give you the right to harm anyone else. Shame that there isn’t a end date when the hospitals can do the right thing and refuse service to the ignorant idiots.
I believe in science. I’ve been vaccinated and I refuse to wear a mask so other people feel comfortable. Covid theater is over. It’s time to start living life and kicking ass if anyone has a problem.
How is it a terrible vaccine..has proven to be safe and effective. And the arguement..only 99.75 percent…do the math what that means 597k in the USA alone! I know it makes you feel better only 99.75 percent. You know why numbers going down because people who follow science and understand how getting the vaccine helps us and others works.
“You know why numbers going down because people who follow science and understand how getting the vaccine helps us and others works.” one problem with that statement. the vaccine doesn’t cut down on transmission of C19. it makes ur symptoms less serious. it doesn’t prevent u from spreading or getting it. so the vaccine isn’t why numbers are going down. it’s because of herd immunity. no vaccine, no masks, no lockdowns, nothing except herd immunity has ever defeated a virus of this level. and it’s not like it’s 99.75% in every country. it’s 99.75% worldwide. so USA could have 100% death rate. but if another country has a 0% death rate, and only those two countries have the virus, the worldwide survival rate is 50%. u don’t take the survival rate of each country. u take the total number of cases worldwide, and the total number of deaths worldwide. u divide the cases by the deaths. and u get 99.75% survival rate. this virus isn’t deadly, it’s highly contagious. the vaccine IS terrible. the J&J, pfizer, and the other main covid vaccines just got developed and tested during operation warp speed. they’re new. like it was said above, no one knows the long term affects. what happens 2, 5, 10 years after you’ve been vaccinated?? nobody knows
Who told you getting vaccine doesn’t prevent you from getting it? After you are fully vaccinated you have a 94-95% efficacy rate. Not 100 percent but better than 0. Why do you think places are allowing people to remove masks if fully vaccinated. And yes if you do get it..symptoms much better. You are totally not understanding world comment. Herd immunity without vaccine..has been tried didnt work and too costly in lives and will take forever! The vaccine is the quickest approach. Safe and effective…yes has been proven over and over in studies..do your research on that and exactly how vaccine works.
some vaccines help prevent you from getting the sickness that you’re being vaccinated for. others are developed to decrease symptom severity if u do contract the virus. this covid vaccine is option number 2. i’ll provide website names with my info later. and no this isn’t “safe” nor is it “effective.” in NYC a pregnant doctor was celebrating getting vaccinated. a few days after getting vaccinated, she miscarried. a mom was breastfeeding her healthy newborn baby. then she got the pfizer vaccine. she continued breastfeeding after getting vaccinated, and her baby died. i personally know someone who’s grandfather was trying to convince her(his granddaughter) to get vaccinated. she is against this vaccine. she said “ok if you get the vaccine and you’re okay after getting vaccinated, i’ll get it” he got vaccinated, and within 24 hrs had a heart attack. that is safety?! i don’t think two babies dying and a man having a heart attack(not to mention the blood clots and other deaths it has caused) are very safe.
and can you tell me how it’s proven to be safe and effective?
Do you have children? If so, were they not required to get vaccinated for school?
if you’re talking to me, i don’t have children no. and if they were required to get vaccinated, i would pull them out of that school and put them in a school that doesn’t require an experimental vaccine
You people talking about it being a new vaccine are misinformed. Coronavirus vaccines have been around for a long long time. Acting like this is a brand new science is disingenuous but you all actually know that.
“They’ve never been guys who are going to kowtow to whatever the public or whatever coach wants them to do, unless their job is on the line.”
You place sports athletes on a pedestal and pay them millions of dollars it’s inevitable they develop an attitude of entitlement.