NFL, NFLPA Agree to Voluntary Offseason Program, 'Virtual Period'

The NFL and the NFL Players Association have agreed to a voluntary offseason program that will begin next Monday.  

Adam Schefter of ESPN shared part of the memo from the NFL Management Council outlining the guidelines, which state the "virtual period" cannot feature any on-field work unless every single club facility is open. The league will follow social distancing protocols put in place during the coronavirus pandemic from local and federal officials, and there will either be zero club facilities open or all 32.

Albert Breer of the MMQB summarized more details from the guidelines and provided a timeline:

NFL Network's Tom Pelissero noted teams can implement virtual work such as classroom instruction and workouts for three straight weeks. Teams can also conduct a mandatory veteran minicamp virtually if facilities do not open, although they will be limited to two hours of workout time and two hours of classroom time.

What's more, the clubs can send each player up to $1,500 of workout equipment and monitoring devices during this time.

The new guidelines echo many of the changes to the NFL draft on April 23-25, which will no longer take place in public in Las Vegas as initially planned. Instead, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell sent a memo to teams around the league saying the draft will be "fully virtual."

That means all team facilities are to be closed, even if they are located in states that have not implemented strict social distancing and lockdown guidelines during the pandemic.

In essence, teams will not be permitted an unfair advantage based solely on the local protocols in place. That was also the thinking behind making sure all club facilities must be allowed to open before any team can hold offseason workouts in person.

This type of level playing field is another change to which teams must adjust during this unusual offseason that has seen many activities canceled and clubs unable to conduct their typical in-person meetings, physicals and evaluations for draft prospects and free agents.

For now, the 2020 season is still scheduled to start in September even though many leagues that were in the middle of their current 2019-20 campaigns have canceled or postponed games.