As the OTAs begin in the NFL on April 19, the Denver Broncos have revealed in a statement that they will skip this voluntary program. Denver players, under the guidance of the NFLPA, cited COVID-19’s concerns as a reason for their refusal to appear.
This is after the same players (for the most part) showed up every day at the Broncos UCHealth Training Center last fall, going through the team’s rigorous COVID-19 safety and security protocols. Few Broncos came down with the virus during the 2020 season, although some coaches did.
Players such as defensive lineman Shelby Harris, who missed a month of football as a result, contracted the virus away from the Broncos building, but was smart and conscientious enough to inform the team when he realized he was exposed to the bug. . Less than a week later, he gave positive results.
COVID-19 is a very real virus and a threat, however, the Broncos has made Dove Valley an almost impenetrable fortress against it. The NFL should be praised for managing the pandemic, especially the Broncos, and its focus on player safety last fall.
A Bronco from the team that will not report to the “voluntary” OTAs next week is doing so with a kind of protest on social networks. On Tuesday, starting defender Alexander Johnson took to Twitter to express his skepticism about the omission of OTAs, while revealing a controversial opinion on the pandemic. He will still close the ranks around his teammates and jump over the OTA.
Johnson kept saying on Twitter: “I definitely revolve around my team and I support my colleagues not to be in person based on all the other factors that help individual players, just not for excuses around a planned pandemic.”
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The notion of being “planned” for the pandemic is a tin hat, and Johnson has already received some harsh criticism from Mile High Sports for spreading “misinformation” with its player platform. However, looking at the controversy of reading between the lines of what the great quieter has expressed, it does not seem that Johnson is afraid of the virus and questions the reasons for what is happening.
It may have been a kind of Freudian slip, but that is his prerogative as an individual. Many of his teammates obviously feel different. However, some wonder what factor played the biggest role in Broncos players who omit OTAs: the safety of viruses or the fact that they do not have to attend a voluntary program during a month in which boys can extend their holidays. .
The NFLPA has long tried to reduce the NFL’s off-season training program and has done so with great effect. The OTAs were an extension of the training camp with contact, approach and hitting. Now, after the NFLPA’s lengthy negotiations with the owners over several collective bargaining agreements, OTAs are little more than organized flag football.
The new OTAs are better for the long-term health of the players, although they may not be the best for the overall cohesion of the team. OTA is still a huge value for NFL teams, including players. This is especially true for any extremely young team who are definitely Broncos.
Johnson seems to prefer to report on April 19, but based on what he said on Twitter, he’s more likely to stay in line with the group’s thinking, according to NFLPA representative Brandon McManus, who takes his marching orders. from the president of the union, JC Tretter. .
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