Good for the agents and the prospective players who have already caused the NFL and the combine to blink. Earlier this week, more than a dozen contract advisors representing 155 players stated their refusal to attend the league’s annual meat market due to bubble restrictions that would prevent them from interacting with anyone else.
While we’re all for safety, the absurdity of forcing players to fly across the country, meet in cramped rooms full of coaches who may or may not have been following safety protocol and risk their own health and safety in a largely meaningless slate of made-for-television workouts without the ability to access their personal support system is ridiculous even by the league’s standards.
According to multiple reports, the combine has since walked this back, or is about to. (Editor's note: Shortly after the publication of this article, the combine announced it would ease its COVID-19 protocols, allowing players to do as they please during their free time.) The NFL blamed the combine. The combine shivered in its boots.
