‘This Is Crazy’: NFL Players Sound Off On League’s Vaccine Protocols

The NFL has made it very clear to their players — receive the vaccine, or you’re not going to have a very enjoyable 2021 season. 

On Wednesday, the league released their protocols for training camps and the 2021 NFL preseason. For players who have been fully vaccinated, nearly all restrictions have been relaxed. Masks and daily testing will no longer be required, travel restrictions have been lifted, they will be allowed to eat in the cafeteria with other vaccinated individuals, and no restrictions will be placed on social/media/marketing/sponsorship opportunities, among other things. 

For players who have not received the vaccine or are yet to be fully vaccinated, life in the NFL will be vastly different. 

COVID-19 testing will be required every day, masks must be worn when at the team facilities and while traveling, they may not use the sauna/steam room, leaving the team hotel to eat at restaurants is prohibited, and no social/media/marketing/sponsorship activities will be permitted. 

The rules are strikingly different, and not all players are keeping quiet about it. 

Cole Beasley — wide receiver for the Buffalo Bills – sounded off on Twitter, calling the NFL Players Association “a joke.”

“This is crazy,” Beasley wrote on Twitter. “Did we vote on this? I stay in the hotel. We still have meetings. We will all be together. Vaccinated players can go out the hotel and bring covid back in to where I am. So what does it matter if I stay in the hotel now? 100 percent immune with vaccination? No.”

“The players association is a joke. Call it something different. It’s not for the players. Everyone gives me the 98 percent of people who are vaccinated don’t get covid again. The odds of me getting in the NFL and playing for 10 years are lower than that and I’m here.” 

Technically, the players did get a “vote,” albeit indirectly. The players elect team representatives who make decisions at the union level for the players, but a decision of this magnitude directly impacts players that have made the personal choice to not get the shot. 

“So what are we really talking about? I understand completely why the NFL is doing this,” Beasley wrote. “It gives them back the freedom to make the most money as possible again if everyone is vaccinated. But will anyone fight for the players or nah?”

Beasley wasn’t the only player to sound off of the newly released protocols. 

Cincinnati Bengals running back Joe Mixon took aim at the players union, claiming the NFLPA “is not for the players they act like they represent us and they clearly show us different time & time again.” 

The @NFLPA is not for the players they act like they represent us and they clearly show us different time & time again. https://t.co/fIiTZMlkwY

— ⚡️Primetime!!!⚡️ (@Joe_MainMixon) June 16, 2021

With teams having to separate vaccinated and unvaccinated players, it will almost be as if there are two different sets of teams on each roster. 

“I thought Football was a team sport and it’s clearly being individualized by beliefs…,” Mixon said on Twitter. 

I thought Football was a team sport and it’s clearly being individualized by beliefs…

— ⚡️Primetime!!!⚡️ (@Joe_MainMixon) June 16, 2021

The topic of vaccinations has become hotly debated throughout sports, with multiple players speaking out on their decision to abstain from the shot. 

Montez Sweat of the Washington Football Team, objected to head coach Ron Rivera bringing in a “vaccine expert” to talk to the team to answer any questions they may have about innoculation. 

“I’m not a fan of it. I probably won’t get vaccinated until I get more facts and all that type stuff,” Sweat said when asked on Rivera’s decision to bring in someone to talk to the team. “I’m not a fan of it at all.” 

“Obviously, they want everybody to be vaccinated to move more freely around the facility and with traveling and all that type of stuff. But everybody has their own beliefs, and they’re entitled to their own decision.”

Joe Morgan is the Sports Reporter for The Daily Wire. Most recently, Morgan covered the Clippers, Lakers, and the NBA for Sporting News. Send your sports questions to [email protected].

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