Memo Re Free Agent Testing and Travel - 12.19.20 - FINAL

NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE
MEMORANDUM
To: General Managers

Head Team Physicians
Head Athletic Trainers
Club Infection Control Officers
Club Counsel
From: Football Operations

Health & Safety
Management Council
Player Personnel
Date: December 19, 2020
Subject: Updated NFL-NFLPA COVID-19 Protocols
In preparation for the post-season, specifically as it relates to player availability and roster
flexibility, the following changes will be implemented subject to the schedule below:
1. Tryouts
Effective on Tuesday, December 22 (Week 16), the permissible duration of tryouts and
visits will be extended. After a free agent clears pre-entry testing, the tryout/visit may continue for
up to 72-hours. During this 72-hour period, the free agent may only try out, meet with club
management and undergo medical examination by the club’s medical staff. A player who is trying
out or visiting may not use the club’s weight room or other facilities unless such use is in
furtherance of the tryout. Any such activities may not be conducted while players on the club’s
roster are present. The tryout/visiting player may not practice with the club or attend any meetings,
either live or virtual, unless and until the tryout/visiting player has signed an NFL Player Contract.
The restriction on the total number of visits a player may have with a given club in a season
will also be eliminated. In other words, a player brought in for a tryout next week may remain in
the same city, continuing to test, for another week if he so chooses. In such a case, he must remain
in testing cadence (i.e., not miss a day of testing).
Effective on Tuesday, December 29 (Week 17), and continuing throughout the playoffs, the
number of free agent players that a club may bring in for a visit or a tryout will be increased from
five (5) players to ten (10) players per week. The pre-entry testing requirement will remain
unchanged; a tryout/visiting player may not enter the club facility or participate in a tryout until
after he clears five (5) BRL PCR tests, plus a Mesa Test on the day of entry (Day 6). During the
pre-entry testing period, free agents who are visiting or trying out are prohibited from interacting
with one another, and they are prohibited from interacting with any players currently on the club’s
roster or any members of the club’s Essential Football or Essential Support Personnel. Once a free
December 19, 2020
agent player has cleared the pre-entry testing and is permitted to interact with members of the club’s
staff, he must strictly adhere to all requirements of the NFL-NFLPA COVID-19 Protocols,
including but not limited to, maintaining physical distancing and wearing a mask and a Kinexon
device at all times.
If a club brings a free agent in for a tryout or visit and does not sign the player to an NFL
Player Contract within 72 hours of the player’s successful completion of the pre-entry testing
cadence, the tryout/visit will be deemed to have been concluded, and the player must leave the club
facility. In such a case, the club may continue to test the player so that he remains current in the
testing cadence. However, the club must submit that free agent player to Player Personnel as a new
and subsequent “visit” for the period during which he continues to test with the club. Any such
player will count against the 10-player weekly limit during the period in which he continues to test.
2. Testing
Effective immediately (December 19), a player who is current in the official NFL testing
cadence will be permitted to travel between clubs and club cities without having to restart the entry
testing cadence, provided that he remains in testing cadence and travels privately. This will apply
to players released from a team, players signed from another club’s practice squad and players who
are in a club city for the purpose of a tryout or visit but who have not yet signed an NFL Player
Contract.
If such a player is in the testing cadence with a club and is subsequently acquired by a new
club or invited to try out with a new club, and the player elects to do so, the player may clear the
pre-entry testing requirement by: (i) traveling privately (e.g., either by private aviation, private car
service or in an individual car) to the new club; (ii) not missing a day of official NFL testing (e.g., a
BRL PCR test); and (iii) returning a total of five (5) negative BRL PCR tests plus one negative
Mesa Test on the day the player enters the club facility. For the avoidance of doubt, the five (5)
negative BRL PCR tests may be returned in any combination (e.g., one (1) in his former club city
and four (4) in the new club city; three (3) in the former club city and two (2) in the new club city,
etc.). The requirement that any player who misses a daily BRL PCR test will be subject to the
current 6-day re-entry testing before he may enter a club facility remains unchanged.
* * * *
Please contact a member of the Football Operations or Management Council staff with any
questions.

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Memo Re Free Agent Testing and Travel - 12.19.20 - FINAL

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NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE

To: General Managers

From: Football Operations

Date: December 19, 2020

Subject: Updated NFL-NFLPA COVID-19 Protocols

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