Todd Gurley speaks out about NFL’s lack of coronavirus plan

Todd Gurley was just one on a long list of NFL players concerned about the lack of COVID-19 plans.

As much as NFL owners would prefer to play football this season, players remain unwilling to do so without the appropriate safety protocols. Satisfying that need is easier said than done in a sport predicated on close contact with others.

Newly-acquired Atlanta Falcons running back Todd Gurley took part in a pre-planned social media message from NFL players to up the sense of urgency around these plans. The former Georgia Bulldog stressed that players need to feel healthy in order to put their talents on display. Despite its rank as a gladiator sport of sorts, these men are not merely there for our entertainment alone. They have families.

Todd Gurley speaks out about NFL safety protocols.

The owners’ insistence to play preseason games is just one reason why players feel they don’t have their best interests at heart. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell announced the preseason was cut in half weeks ago, but since then the number of cases nationwide has only grown. Rather than responding to the pandemic on the fly, the owners and the commissioner who works for them seem inclined to let things play out as is, which is not acceptable at this juncture.

Player empowerment is on the rise, and just a week after Patrick Mahomes signed the richest contract in sports history, he’s on the front lines for player rights to, we hope, set an example to his contemporaries. Gurley and others remain unhappy with the lack of concessions made by a league that continues to rake in money at their expense.