An NFL player who contacted PJ Media under the condition of anonymity tells a harrowing story about what is going on inside the league for unvaccinated players.
The purpose of my email is to share about the NFL vaccine mandate. I recently read an article by one of your writers that lamented the mandates in a certain Arizona county school and the consequences associated with a teacher declining to be vaccinated for religious reasons. He went on to describe how the NFL has fallen victim to this way of thinking by not allowing a certain individual to sing the national anthem on opening night because of her vaccination status. In the article, however, he stated that players did not have to get vaccinated and this was unfair and hypocritical by the NFL to not allow the individual to sing the national anthem because of her vaccination status. I want to shed some light on this as the NFL has done its best to screw over its players as much as possible as many private businesses/hospitals are doing across the country.
The whistleblower went on to describe the immense pressure the NFL is putting on its unvaccinated players and hopefuls who don’t get any press coverage and are just trying to make it into the league.
By the letter of the law, there is no vaccine mandate in the NFL amongst players (there is amongst coaches and support staff as a coach was fired for not being vaccinated earlier this year), and some players remain unvaccinated. However, for all intents and purposes, there is a vaccine mandate for NFL players.
60% (I believe this number is accurate but not 100% certain) of the league consists of minimum contract guys with little or no guaranteed money. Many of these guys can be cut at any point and are not entitled to any of the remaining compensation in their contracts.
Attached is a memo from one of the teams to their players about the consequences of being unvaccinated and how that will affect them for the season.
The NFL memo the whistleblower provided PJM spells out draconian rules for unvaccinated players, keeping them at a disadvantage to being picked up by teams. Some of the rules include not allowing them to eat in the same room as vaccinated players and banning them from going outside the facility for dinner. The rules even keep them from having family or friends in their own homes.
Does this seem normal to you? @NFL draconian rules for unvaccinated players and hopefuls. #NFLWhistleblower Coming soon full report on @PJMedia_com pic.twitter.com/a51vDkn2IS
— Megan Fox 🦊 (@MeganFoxWriter) September 12, 2021
The whistleblower told PJ Media that unvaccinated players are not getting the same chance to be seen by teams during workouts and are at a severe disadvantage because of the harsh regulations.
In addition to the rules in this memo, unvaccinated free agents have a 5 day waiting period from the moment a team brings them in to workout until they can actually workout whereas vaccinated free agents can workout immediately after a negative covid test. In a business that changes daily sometimes hourly, this effectively makes it impossible for any unvaccinated free agent to get a job unless, for some reason, the free agent was a star player because a team would be willing to wait five days to have a star player (And let’s be honest, any star player wouldn’t have to workout/tryout for a spot on the team anyways. He would just have a physical and be signed).
Did the NFL negotiate all this via a collectively bargained agreement with the National Football League Players Association? The whistleblower says no.
In addition to all of this, these rules were all agreed upon by a few select NFLPA members without the agreement of the rest of the union. I believe it should’ve been collectively bargained for/voted on as the new CBA in 2020 was. I would’ve voted “no” as I would rather sign a waiver saying if I died of covid the nfl is not responsible than abide by the stupid protocols and mandates that they have put in place to protect their image in the media. And there are several people in the league like me.
According to Sportico, the NFLPA may be treading on legal thin ice.
It’s not clear if the NFLPA gained any benefits in exchange for these changes or how an unvaccinated player thought to be responsible for a paycheck-forfeiting outbreak would be treated by teammates. Teams have already begun to visually segregate unvaccinated players by making them wear yellow wristbands, while vaccinated players wear red…If a player refuses to reveal his vaccination status and is later punished for his reticence, the player could argue his privacy rights were violated. The U.S. Supreme Court, in Detroit Edison Co. v. NLRB, held that a bargained right to information can’t betray a union member’s legitimate interest in confidentiality.
The whistleblower told PJM that he and many others finally succumbed to the pressure of getting the jab even though they felt they did not need it due to recovering from COVID or other medical concerns.
The response for the vast majority of unvaccinated players has been to get vaccinated against their preference and better judgement. I work out with several different NFL players during the offseason, and the vast majority of the group I work with would not have gotten vaccinated had the protocols been the same for someone who has antibodies from a prior infection as someone who is vaccinated.
The source said that the NFL is not being honest about the amount of pressure it is putting on its players, saying one thing privately and another in the press.
There have been a couple interviews over the course of this preseason where NFL GMs or coaches have stated that a player’s vaccination status could contribute to whether that player is cut or not. These coaches and GMs have typically recanted their statements or tried to paint them in a different light later, but everybody in the business knows the truth. The way the protocols are, there is a significant competitive advantage being vaccinated over being unvaccinated.
Many critics have pointed out that all these rules feel a lot like security theater that is not really focused on safety or health but on the image of the government or organizations implementing them and their ability to control people within their grasp. The NFL whistleblower noticed a similar pattern.
When I was with the team this past summer, many of the members of the training staff went around to the unvaccinated players daily and tried to coerce them into getting the vaccine. I eventually engaged in a conversation with one of the staff members about it, and the positives and negative of vaccine. The conclusion of our discussion basically yielded what I already knew: I didn’t need the vaccine to keep me safe. I needed to get it if I wanted the best chance to make the team with the upcoming protocols.
The NFL could be the canary in the coal mine for what is coming for unvaccinated workers in America. Either get the jab against your own will and judgment or suffer life-altering consequences.
Source: PJ Media
