The NFL’s deadline for players to decide to opt out of the NFL season passed Thursday at 4 p.m. ET, but one player thinks that will prove meaningless as things progress.
Detroit Lions linebacker Jamie Collins believes players will still try to opt out depending on circumstances, even though the formal deadline passed.
New Lions LB Jamie Collins on the op-tout deadline: We need more time. There's still going to be problems down the road and if the virus affects someone close to them, they'll want to opt out. Deadline day won't mean anything.
— Dave Birkett (@davebirkett) August 6, 2020
Collins has a point. Major League Baseball is the only other sport operating outside of a bubble environment in the U.S. that has opt out provisions, and we have seen players there decide not to play even after the start of the season. Some NFL players will probably have similar thoughts, and it’s not really clear how the NFL would handle that.
One veteran player thinks the NFL’s deadline is a “joke” due to the lack of time players were given to make a final decision. It’ll be interesting to see if this becomes a factor later in camp and during the season.
