New Orleans Saints safety Malcolm Jenkins said the risk surrounding the coronavirus “has to really be eliminated” before he would be comfortable returning to play this season.
Jenkins, a 12-year veteran and member of the NFL Players Association’s executive committee, appeared on CNN on Thursday morning in his new role as a contributor for the network.
JUST NOW: “Football is a nonessential business and so we don’t need to do it. So the risk, you know, has to be really eliminated before we — before I would feel comfortable with going back. “
Saints @MalcolmJenkins concerned about a return to playpic.twitter.com/onBcvBo3qa
— John Berman (@JohnBerman) June 25, 2020
Jenkins described football as a “nonessential business.” And he pointed out that “the NBA is a lot different than the NFL because they can actually quarantine all of their players or whoever is going to participate.”
“We have over 2,000 players, even more coaches and staff. We can’t do that,” Jenkins said. “So we’ll end up being kind of on this trust system, the honor system, where we just have to hope that guys are social distancing and things like that. And that puts all of us at risk, not only us as players and who’s in the building, but when you go home to your families. You know, I have parents that I don’t want to get sick.
“And I think until we get to the point where we have protocols in place, and until we get to a place as a country where we feel safe doing it, we have to understand that football is a nonessential business. And so we don’t need to do it. And so the risk has to be really eliminated before we — before I — would feel comfortable with going back.”
On Thursday afternoon, Jeff Pash, the NFL’s executive vice president/general counsel, said the league has advised its teams to expect an on-time start for training camps next month, meaning that for most teams, players will be expected to report no later than July 28 to begin preparing for the season.
They laid flowers to mourn and to remember.
On the same day the world paid its final respects to George Floyd, more than a dozen members of the Cleveland Browns’ front office gathered to reflect on another life tragically cut short by police.
The life of Tamir Rice.
The group — which included head coach Kevin Stefanski, general manager Andrew Berry and executive vice president JW Johnson — spent almost an hour on June 9 visiting the Cleveland park where Rice, 12, was gunned down in November 2014. And as they stood together that Tuesday morning, they recalled where they were the moment they heard that a young Black boy, who had been throwing snowballs and playing with a toy pellet gun, was fatally shot by police within seconds of a squad car arriving on scene.
Five and a half years later, the same types of killings are occurring across America.
Five and a half years later, the same inequities of being Black in America still exist.
And in the wake of the recent killing of Floyd by Minneapolis police, Berry issued a challenge to the Browns organization.
Berry, the NFL’s youngest GM at 33, sat in front of his computer on the evening of June 4, typing out his thoughts as best he could. He contemplated everything he had seen taking place around the world.
Images of death. Feelings of despair. The destruction of property. The loss of innocence.
But the more Berry wrote, the more he erased. The words had to be just right. The message had to be clear.
Within a few hours, Berry had woven together nearly 800 words of heartfelt emotion, unfiltered insight into being a father of two young Black sons. A challenge, too.
He pledged to donate $8,460 to the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund — in honor of Floyd and other recent victims of racial violence, including Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and David McAtee — if at least 50 Browns employees would do one of three things:
Although the organization has done plenty, it’s determined to do more.
Players were given the day off on June 9, but Stefanski instructed them to do something good in the community to honor Floyd, whose private funeral was held the same day in Houston. Meanwhile, Stefanski, Berry and other front-office staffers visited the site where Rice was killed.
Last month we held our first fantasy football mock draft of the season, a 12-team PPR draft. Now, the ESPN experts have returned for a 10-team standard PPR draft.
More people play on ESPN than anywhere else. Join or create a league in the No. 1 Fantasy Football game! Sign up for free!
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The participants for this mock draft, in order of draft position, were: Matt Bowen, Kyle Soppe, Stephania Bell, Joe Kaiser, Daniel Dopp, Mike Clay, Mike Triplett, Tristan H. Cockcroft, Eric Karabell and Keith Lipscomb.
So how many running backs went in the first round? Did Lamar Jackson or Patrick Mahomes go first? And which highly rated players slid the furthest?
You can check out all that and more; all the picks from 1-160 are listed below.
Round 1
Round 2
Round 4
Round 5
Round 6
Round 7
Round 8
Round 9
Round 10
Round 11
Round 12
Round 13
Round 14
TAMPA, Fla. — Despite having two players diagnosed with the coronavirus and an assistant coach test positive last week, Tampa Bay Buccaneers players are continuing to hold group workouts at a local high school.
The Tampa Bay Times reported that Tom Brady and several teammates were at Berkeley Prep, working out on Tuesday morning, despite the NFL Players Association advising against such workouts.
Brady was seen practicing Tuesday with Rob Gronkowski, Chris Godwin, Scotty Miller, Jamel Dean, Sean Murphy-Bunting, Mike Edwards, Blaine Gabbert, Ryan Griffin and Ryan Jensen.
The NFLPA’s medical director, Dr. Thom Mayer, said Saturday that players should not “be engaged in practicing together in private workouts.”