Impact on the season of players opting out

[trents]

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/296 ... osses-mean

Look at this list of players opting out because of COVID-19 concerns.

The first thing that stands out to me is the huge number of Patriot players opting out and some of them are important pieces.

The second thing that stands out to me is that (if I counted correctly) so far, only one Seahawk has opted out.

How do you see this impacting the outcome of the NFL season as far as the playoffs and the SB?

[NorthHawk]

I think teams will try to look at it like a player got a season ending injury in the first day of TC.
Like Chuck Knox used to say "You play the hand you're dealt".

The worry for me and probably others is if a player gets COVID-19 and it spreads through a team.
Will that team have to forfeit that game and maybe next? It's not like Baseball where they will play
60 games and teams multiple times along with the ability of double headers.

[RiverDog]

Baseball has an option of playing double headers to make up games when their team has to go into quarantine. The St. Louis Cardinals now have 11 double headers between now and the end of the regular season to make up for the games they missed when the team had to go through a quarantine. If a football team has to endure a 14 day quarantine, they might as well hang it up for the season.

[trents]

I was more asking how it would affect the ability of individual teams to compete than about scheduling challenges. Which teams will suffer the most because of many or key op outs and which teams will gain an unexpected advantage (relative to the competition) because of not be hurt so much by opt outs.

[jshawaii22]

Seems to me the NFL has (so far) done mostly everything right to avoid what Baseball is going through. First of all, for football, there is only one game a week, which allows teams to do multiple tests up to Friday (or later if the instant testing comes to fruition). I have read reports of the teams moving to a "isolation hotel" that is available as an option for anyone right now but during the season it will be required from Wednesday - Sunday (or Monday) with the players getting 2 days off after the game to go home and testing when they return.

It also seems that most of the players seem to be OK with this. If you wanted out, you could and only a handful did. Yes, the Patriots lost a bundle (conspiriousy mongers insist it's Belechek going for Clemson's QB next year and he encouraged his best players to take the year off...)

As it is with every league, it's going to be up to the players to conform to the rules. The Seahawks UDFA idiot last week being a prime example of what can happen with 20 ishes get the zippers stuck open, but he was caught and fired. Of course, some say what would happen if it was Russell or DK or ???, but so far it hasn't, so I don't have an answer. Basketball allows player to leave the "bubble" for births and family emergencies and return with multiple negative tests, so I assume so will NFL.

If this was my league (yeah, right) I'd move all the Thursday games to Saturday to keep the teams on a stable schedule, but $$$ always is the key and the league won't give up a money night. If anything, they'll move a couple of games to Saturday from the Sunday schedule each week make to increase the revenue that is severely reduced going forward.

[RiverDog]

I was more asking how it would affect the ability of individual teams to compete than about scheduling challenges. Which teams will suffer the most because of many or key op outs and which teams will gain an unexpected advantage (relative to the competition) because of not be hurt so much by opt outs.

That's the $64,000 question, and one of the reasons why this is likely to be such a F-ed up season. If several teams end up losing or forfeiting games due to players testing positive, it's going to compromise the credibility of any championships, season records, awards, etc. As a football purist, I'm not at all thrilled with the prospect of a season like what baseball is going through. I'd rather see them cancel or delay it than having teams go through periods of quarantine.

I wonder if they've agreed on a threshold where if they get X number of positives that they'll cancel the season.

[obiken]

That's the $64,000 question, and one of the reasons why this is likely to be such a F-ed up season. If several teams end up losing or forfeiting games due to players testing positive, it's going to compromise the credibility of any championships, season records, awards, etc. As a football purist, I'm not at all thrilled with the prospect of a season like what baseball is going through. I'd rather see them cancel or delay it than having teams go through periods of quarantine.

I wonder if they've agreed on a threshold where if they get X number of positives that they'll cancel the season.

I agree, and as good as baseball is River, BB is not FB. You are not locked up in the mud, blood, and sweat, like in the NFL. I think its done, they need to cancel. As to the Pats I think some of the bails are self interest, this season was a wash anyway, would you play for Bilicheck this year, not me!

[trents]

As to the Pats I think some of the bails are self interest, this season was a wash anyway, would you play for Bilicheck this year, not me!

I wonder about that, too.

But with all those opt outs on the Pats, can't see how they can be competitive this year. Not even given BB's brilliance as a coach. On the other hand, so far at least, the Hawks have been dinged very little by opt outs. And hey, I'd take a SB championship anyway I could get one.

[obiken]

You and me both, no such thing as a tainted Lombardi if you have another!

[RiverDog]

You and me both, no such thing as a tainted Lombardi if you have another!

I'd rather win a tainted one than lose a tainted one, but my clear preference is that we win it "fair and square". That's why even though it would have increased our chances had Brady been suspended prior to SB 49 for the Deflategate scandal, I was hoping that he wouldn't. I always like beating a team when they are at full strength so as to nullify the 'yea, but' arguments.

I'm all for making an honest attempt at conducting an as near of normal football season as is possible given the circumstances, but they need to pull the plug on it soon if problems start occurring. It already has the smell to it that they are prioritizing money over safety.