Though the NFL cannot legally force its players to get vaccinated against COVID-19 thanks to an agreement with the NFLPA, the league is doing everything in its power to make sure its players, and its money, will be safe this season.
On Thursday morning, Buffalo Bills wide receiver Isaiah McKenzie disclosed he was fined $14,650 for violating the NFL’s COVID-19 protocol by not properly wearing a mask. As an unvaccinated player, he is required to wear a mask.
Along with the notice of the fine, the NFL sent McKenzie a Big Brother-esque letter that detailed the receiver’s mask usage, or lack thereof, in Buffalo’s team facility.
“On August 25, 2021, at approximately 2:15 p.m. while walking through the indoor fieldhouse and into the training room, you failed to wear a mask,” the letter said. “Then at approximately 4:35 p.m. on August 25, for several minutes, you failed to wear a mask in a meeting area of the weight room while gathered near other players after the offensive meeting. For players who are not fully vaccinated against COVID-19, like you, your conduct is expressly prohibited by the protocols. Again, your conduct potentially compromised not only your safety, but also the safety of others, as well as the leagueâs ability to ensure that your clubâs training camp is conducted in a safe manner.”
As the letter indicates, the NFL is serious about players who are not fully vaccinated against COVID-19 following the health and safety regulations that were agreed upon this offseason. Those regulations are quite strict and make it very, very likely that players who are not vaxxed will end up missing games, and paychecks, during the season as unvaccinated players will be required to submit to game day testing no later that four hours before kickoff.
“To put it bluntly, unvaccinated players will wake up on the day of a game with one final hurdle to suiting up,” according to ProFootballTalk. “If they test positive, they donât play. (And theyâre knocked out for at least 10 days, which means theyâll likely miss at least one more game.) Another potential issue arises for unvaccinated players on game day. If one unvaccinated player tests positive, contact tracing must promptly be conducted to determine whether other unvaccinated players are close contacts. By rule, those players canât play, either.”
That being the case, players who don’t get the shot are putting their team, and not just themselves, at risk. As the letter the league sent to McKenzie makes clear, the NFL is going to do everything it can to minimize that risk by doing everything it can to encourage players to get the vaccine.
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