Six Patriots players are opting out of the upcoming season.
I imagine more will follow. Seriously, there isn't going to be football in the fall. These leagues should really consider delaying the season until the spring, then crossing their fingers for a vaccine.
Uncle Rico has entered the chat
The NFL should've gone the bubble route!
They still can, but a 2 month NBA season is way different from a 6 month NFL season. I wonder if Belichick cuts them?
You'd think even Coach B wouldn't cut a player as good as Hightower over something like this. But, then again, with him we've seen anything is possible.
logistically, it's a nightmare to do for all 32 teams. Each team would require 200+ people in operations including coaches/players to make it work. So 32x200 would be over 6,400 people so where would you put them in a hotel in a bubble for 6 months as well as how/where would they play games without having to deal with scheduling issue?
Unless, there's a city that can fit in everybody with that criteria, there isn't one at the moment.
I hear Tokyo has some available Olympic Village space.
Tokyo went on lockdown today.
They could be in a "bubble" like soccer is currently doing, in their specific city. You would keep players and coaches isolated, and keep administration and executives in a different kind of isolation. Not saying they will or even if it would work, but it doesn't have to be the same kind of isolation that basketball is doing.
There can be more than one bubble
A lot of screens in the upcoming NBA season, at least.
To be honest, if I were Matthew Stafford, with 4 young children and a wife that had brain surgery not too long ago, I’d take the massive amount of money I’ve already earned and sit home.
Yeah, I assume he's been talking to the Lions and planning on just such a decision.
That would be unfortunate for the lions as I’m sure it would be the only thing keeping them from a sure bid for the Super Bowl. *cough*
I get it, but you also have to think "this is extra money I can leave for my wife and kids when I'm gone". There's no wrong or right decision so long as it's thoughtfully made.
There absolutely is a right and wrong decision but we can't know what it is right now, only time will tell
Stafford’s earned upwards of $100MM in his career? Maybe $200MM? His family is set for generations assuming he’s made prudent financial decisions.
I assume that athletes manage their income poorly unless I hear otherwise since wise investing seems to be the exception and not the rule. These guys spend their money like most enlisted servicemen I knew.
(I instantly think of Julio Jones losing $400k earrings jetskiing in lake Lanier when I think about athletes with more dollars than cents)
Yea, I meant I get that. But it's pretty rare when the stars of stars have that happen. I feel pretty confident that Stafford is on sound financial footing. And most athletes that go broke have not earned the kind of money Stafford has earned in his career. It'd be hard to blow through a couple hundred of million dollars unless he's made a lot of bad investments (not just blowing money on stupid shit).
He has more money than God and zero chance of winning the Superbowl. Pretty good chance you called it.
If Stafford sits, it means we get Lawrence or Fields, because there is no chance in hell this sorry ass team wins without him.
So you think the Lions will just automatically draft a top QB because their current starter decides to sit out? Counting on the Lions to draft any particular player, or position, based on need is a fool's errand. They have proven this over and over and over and over...
Quite the valid point you have here...
I have just watched another podcast online where a doctor is quoted as saying I would rather my kids get covid-19 the flu. This is NOT worse than flu. Absolutely ridiculous how journalism is making the fear worse.
Is the doctor named Stella?
Sounds like a smart move for these guys based on family circumstances, and it should be noted that they're leaving millions on the table (they'll get it back next year if they play but still, Hightower is leaving $8M for the year). They are putting their money where their mouths are when it comes to concerns about their health and those of their loved ones.
No, they won't 'get it back next year' if they play then. The money they lose this year will not be reimbursed.
As I understand the rules, the contracts "toll" for the year and pick up next season. So if the guys aren't cut next season then it's like this year never happened in terms of their contract length and pay. I believe they do pick up a year of service, though, so for certain contracts that may matter going into next year. But guys on their last year of a contract aren't immediately FAs if they opt-out.
Doesn't matter, there won't be any football played this fall. ?
Devin Funchess also announced he plans to sit out.
I am also planning to sit out the NFL season. The risk just isn't worth it to me.
There's a joke about catching in there somewhere
He was told he would need to downfield block this season.
I get that a lot of people want sports rather badly - I am among them - but I'd also rather not see the Marlins' situation replicate itself in other sports (even if Manfred says it is "manageable", so we'll see how THAT goes...), and I do believe it is safer for everyone and certainly more sound to be proactive about it as these players have been. You can play a game whenever ultimately, but you only get the one life and right now that should probably be more towards the front of one's mind. I would think that more players are going to be right behind these guys when it comes to making such a decision.
The Marlins situation to me is stunning incompetence at all levels. From the league, to the upper management of teams, down to the coaches and players. All of them made terrible decisions to allow half of a team to catch the virus.
And it happened on the first series back. If they're not careful and don't learn from this, the whole endeavor is going to be shutdown. As it is this situation might still warrant closure, and it probably depends on whether the Phillies caught the virus or not (still too early to know given incubation period). My guess is they'll be able to move forward from this fiasco with mainly the Marlins taking the hit, but it is definitely "strike one" for the whole damn thing.
Hightower is impossible to replace. Chung and Cannon hurt from a depth and experience perspective. Who knows, maybe BB throws in the towel and Loses for Lawrence.
That would be a very Bill Belichick (Machiavellian) type of move.
It's always fun looking at the Colts' win totals from 2002 to 2014: 10, 12, 12, 14, 12, 13, 12, 14, 10, 2, 11, 11, 11. Oh, where did that 2 come from? And it got us Andrew Luck? Well, that worked out!
You're giving Robert Irsay and Jim Caldwell an awful lot of credit here...
These 6 guys are Patriots, I don't care what anyone else says.
What's happening to the Marlins right now is ominous. Half the team has tested positive. The NBA may succeed with the bubble approach. It seems less infeasible to do that in the NFL, but also virtually certain to be team-wide breakouts unless players are isolated.
I think it was yesterday when Devin McCourty (Pats DB) made a public comment about being surprised if the NFL can complete a season because he see’s players in the league posting pictures on social media while hanging out at clubs.
I get that the majority of players in the NFL are young, but I would be really pissed that a “co-worker” thinks hanging out at a club is a higher priority than doing everything you can to support a season being able to be played so everyone else can make their money and be safe doing so.
Yeah, especially considering the average length of an nfl career is fairly short and the only guaranteed money is the signing bonus.
Yep...I imagine there will be some locker room tension all over the league because of stuff like this...
Can’t blame them and I think the flood gates will open soon and many more will opt out
Can’t blame them and I think the flood gates will open soon and many more will opt out
Dolphins, Bills and Jets are smelling blood in the water. Pats are the weakest they’ve been in 20 years.
LOL Jets
Interesting.
Tanking for Trevor
Hard to see it. Seriously, it is. When was the last time the Pats even had a top-10 pick in the draft? Much less a top-3 pick, which will almost certainly be what is needed to get Trevor Lawrence?
For at least 20 years I’ve never known anything but seeing the Pats with a Really late first round pick, and at least every other year seeing Belichek trade out of the first round with teams desperate for more talent.
If I were these players, for the kind of money that they make, I’d rent a place and for 4 months and stay away from the family, make due with FaceTime. Similar to our military guys when they are deployed, and they sure make a lot less.