An awkward dynamic is unfolding between the NFL and the media outlet the NFL owns and operates.
On Monday night, NFL.com posted an item based on a tweet from Ian Rapoport of NFL Media regarding a memo from the head of the NFL Physicians Society that seems to suggest a blanket cancellation of all physicals for players. The presence of the letters N, F, and L created a stronger impression that, indeed, the plug was being pulled on physicals.
It wasn’t.
Here’s the NFL’s statement, sent to PFT, regarding the message from the NFL Physicians Society: “As previously announced, players who are free agents or subjects of a trade are not permitted to travel to meet with any club personnel, including members of the club medical staff. Club facilities are closed to any NFL player, unless that player has been receiving ongoing medical treatment by the club’s medical team. Club medical staff are prohibited from traveling to any location to meet with or conduct a medical examination of a player. This is consistent with procedures previously announced for draft-eligible college players. Clubs may arrange for a free agent or traded player to have medical exams conducted in the player’s home city or at another nearby location by a third-party doctor.”
So, basically, nothing has changed, despite the letter from the NFL Physicians Society. Per a source with knowledge of the situation, the league views the neutral doctors as primarily orthopedic specialists who don’t have offices in hospitals, and thus they are less affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Of course, the same could be said of many of the NFL’s team doctors. So why would the NFL Physicians Society issue a blanket “no physicals” statement?
Bottom line: A strange situation has become even stranger. Which isn’t surprising, giving the strange events currently unfolding throughout the world.
