Falcons' Todd Gurley Prepared for No Season If NFL Can't Agree to COVID-19 Plan

Atlanta Falcons star Todd Gurley said he's prepared for some or all of the 2020 NFL season to be wiped out if the league and NFL Players Association can't set up adequate safeguards amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

During an appearance on CBS Sports Radio's Tiki and Tierney, Gurley said his concern was more about his teammates and the risk the coronavirus poses to their family members.

He also expressed frustration with how little he believes has been done to address the problem:

"It's really not structured right. There's not a proper plan in place that I'm comfortable with. I don't have a wife. I don't have any kids. You have to look at guys on the other side who have [a] pregnant wife, kids and a wife that they go home to every single day. I just feel like we just need to come up with something a lot better than what they're giving us. Everything they gave us is pretty last minute. We should have been able to have answers weeks ago, if not months ago.

"Oh yeah, you have to be prepared to not play or be prepared to have a half a season. If they don't do things right, we won't have a full season. It's just how things have been going so far this year. Hopefully everything goes well, but I don't see [it]. It just doesn't sit well right now."

The pandemic didn't take hold in the United States until after the 2019 NFL season had concluded. As a result, the league has suffered more limited consequences compared to the likes of the NBA, MLB, WNBA, MLS, NHL and NWSL.

The NFL has staged its offseason business—the draft, free agency, preseason workouts and meetings—remotely or with limited access for team personnel.

Now, the league is having to grapple with more significant ramifications of the pandemic. Having already reduced the preseason by two games, the NFL and NFLPA agreed to cancel the entire preseason slate.

Now, the concern is whether the NFL can kick off the regular season as scheduled on Sept. 10. A number of stars took to social media to echo Gurley's concerns about the lack of necessary health protocols:

The Washington Post's Mark Maske noted the NFL and NFLPA have hammered out certain details but that a number of issues remain unresolved.

Maske wrote that among the topics are "frequency of testing, the length of the preseason, the structure of teams’ training camps, the rules for opting out, the possibility of mandating face shields designed to limit on-field spread of the virus, and the economic considerations from a potential drop in revenue and their impact on the 2021 salary cap."

The absence of a season would hurt a player such as Gurley, who's looking to rebound following a disappointing 2019.

He ran for a career-low 857 yards and 12 touchdowns. The Los Angeles Rams released the two-time All-Pro in March, two years after signing him to a four-year, $60 million extension.

Gurley signed a one-year, $5.5 million deal with the Falcons to take over as their starting running back for 2020.