Patriots players say many will not participate in next week’s voluntary workouts due to COVID-19 risk
Voluntary workouts were scheduled to begin on April 19.
The Patriots released a statement through the NFL Players’ Association saying many team members won’t be participating in voluntary workouts, which are scheduled to begin Monday.
“The NFL has yet to agree to the full details of a plan for players despite the fact that we are a few short days away from the start of voluntary workouts,” the statement said. “The threat of COVID-19 is still serious in our community and across the country, and we think it is safer for everyone if we choose to workout on our own.”
A statement from the New England Patriots players: pic.twitter.com/1gl84knZrS
— NFLPA (@NFLPA) April 14, 2021
New England joins a slew of other teams that have already announced some or all players plan to opt out, joining the Lions, Broncos, Seahawks, and Buccaneers.
NFL Players Association president J.C. Tretter has been advocating for a repeat of last year’s offseason when the global COVID-19 outbreak forced teams to do everything online until training camps opened in August.
Except for one minicamp, the offseason programs are voluntary, although most players participate in them and many players have contractual incentives to do so.
Get Boston.com's browser alerts:
Enable breaking news notifications straight to your internet browser.
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com