McCourty Twins Have Lots Of Questions About NFL In 2020 -- But Not A Lot Of Answers From League
BOSTON (CBS) -- The McCourty Twins have a lot of questions about what the NFL will look like in 2020. Unfortunately for them, they play in the NFL, and the league does not have most of the answers they seek.
Devin and Jason McCourty put on their writing caps Monday morning as guest writers for Sports Illustrated's MMQB column, and passed along a bevy of questions they and their fellow NFL players are pondering at the moment -- questions that have not been answered by the league.
"As the days roll past in July, every NFL player is scrolling through Twitter, finding out news about the upcoming season, wondering if there will even be a season. So many questions with virtually no answers, all three weeks removed from a potential start to training camp," the twins wrote. "As fear continues to grow for our nation, it is also being spoken about among us players.
"Will we have an option to opt out of the season? Will we be making our full salary? What if there is a COVID outbreak within the league?" the McCourtys pondered. "It's so hard to make a decision of whether we will play or not without knowing what the exact plan is. Nothing has been agreed upon when it comes to what the stadium will look like.
"Will we be able to have meetings in the building? Or will the meetings still be done virtually? Will testing be a few times a week or will it be every day? As players, how do we decide what is best for us and our families when we don't know what we're walking into?" they continued. "We preach player safety as being the foundation of our game all the time. Well, there's no better time than now to make sure that is at the forefront of everything we do. We play a dangerous game and assume risk every time we step foot onto the field. We psych ourselves up to be these tough guys, where we play through injuries, and deal with the anxiety of performing on a daily basis and the uncertainty of our careers. But we have reached a point where there is no guidance, there is no wily old veteran to look up to when it comes to the circumstances we face today."
The NFL has not yet shared details of its "return to play" plan. While team facilities have been closed for much of the off season, the NFL has maintained a "business as usual" approach for the most part, other than canceling two preseasons games.
Training camp is set to begin in less than three weeks, and the McCourty twins and hundreds of other NFL players still have a boatload of questions when it comes to getting back to work.
