Smith said the notion that the NFLPA wouldn't budge on moving the league year back was factually incorrectGETTY IMAGES
NFLPA Exec Dir DeMaurice Smith said the NFL "has not asked us to move the league year" back due to the coronavirus outbreak. A report from NBC Sports cited a source as saying Smith and the NFLPA would not budge on moving the league year back, but Smith said that notion was "factually incorrect." Smith: "I understand the stories that got out, and I have my own suspicions about who put out that disinformation." Smith said given the "viral load" of coronavirus, "maybe we need to stop thinking about football and start thinking about how what we do could have a significant and disastrous impact on our healthcare." Smith: “Any artificial move of a deadline that would allow the teams to put pressure on players to travel when we know that they shouldn’t is something that I think our medical professionals and our medical experts would frown upon” (“Get Up,” ESPN, 3/16). NBCSPORTS.com's Peter King in the initial report cited a source as saying that Smith “'wouldn’t budge' because he wanted the signing period to begin -- and because there wouldn’t necessarily be a better time if the league pushed it back two weeks or two months." Meanwhile, one owner and two GMs yesterday were "somewhere between frustrated and furious" that Wednesday's 4:00pm ET start of the free-agency period "hadn't been delayed." The owner called it “tone deaf” to be proceeding with business as usual with the coronavirus hanging over the world. To change the starting date of the league year, Smith and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell "must agree, because it’s a collectively bargained issue" (NBCSPORTS.com, 3/16).
RAPID REACTION: ESPN’s Adam Schefter, said of the reaction within the NFL to the league year starting on time, “The amount of the furor and anger that this has created around the league I think is something that I have never before seen.” Schefter: “There are head coaches, general managers, agents, players, reaching out who are incensed that the league year is beginning and they can’t understand how countries like Italy, and France, and Spain are closing down, how every sport in our country is suspending play, basically stopping operations, and free agency is going to go on” (“SportsCenter,” ESPN, 3/16). SI.com's Jenny Vrentas wrote under the header, "The NFL Is Wrong Not To Delay Free Agency Due To The Coronavirus Pandemic" (SI.com, 3/15).In San Diego, Nick Canepa wrote, "I can see a positive in the NFL postponing free agency." It has "nothing to do with crowds, and as far as there being a bad look with players signing for millions, billionaires continue to make a proper living every day during this and we don’t give one damn." Canepa: "The draft? Easily can be done without crowds. The NFL can afford to stop making money for a few hours" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 3/15). In Houston, Brian Smith writes only the NFL would "continue like almost everything is normal while the coronavirus attacks America and the rest of the world." The "big NFL train kept pumping steam" yesterday, and some people will "attack the NFL for its limited, narcissistic vision." But Smith writes, "We also need something to get us through this, and much of free agency can be conducted through modern technology. Phone calls, texts, emails, digital documents, etc" (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 3/16).
