NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith denied a report that the union has refused to delay the start of the league year.
That report on Sunday indicated that the NFLPA was pushing to have the league year start on Wednesday as scheduled rather than push it back in light of the difficulties related to the spreading COVID-19 pandemic. Per the report, the union’s view was that the work of free agency could be done remotely and that the situation might not be any better for some time.
Speaking on ESPN Monday, Smith said the NFL did not ask the union to push back the start date during their discussions about how to proceed. A joint agreement to delay the start of a league year is needed under the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement.
Smith also said that the union does not want players to travel at the moment, which would make it difficult to do the physicals needed for deals to become official and would seem to keep the chances of a delay on the table before teams can start talking to free agents from other clubs on Monday afternoon.
