Players from the Pittsburgh Steelers and Atlanta Falcons on Friday became the latest from the NFL to say that they won’t be reporting to team facilities next week to begin voluntary offseason workouts.
The announcements, made via the NFL Players Association, brings the total to 11 teams for which players say they will not be participating in the workouts, which are scheduled to begin Monday leaguewide. At that point, daily COVID-19 testing for players and staff will commence, according to a memo sent to teams on March 31.
Players who are currently using the weight room at team facilities or being treated by club medical staff have to be tested, at minimum, every other day. Teams can test more if they wish, but that is the minimum requirement.
“We should not be made to compromise our health and safety,” the Steelers said in the statement Friday. “… It makes no sense to risk [COVID-19] infection or injury in the spring if we don’t have to. The protections we had in place last year are not fully in place now and remain unclear.”
In their statement, players from the Falcons said their decision was “not unanimous” but “we respect the decisions of every player across the league and will remain professional in our approach to the game.”
These players join those from the Chicago Bears, Cleveland Browns, New York Giants, Las Vegas Raiders, Denver Broncos, Seattle Seahawks, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Detroit Lions and New England Patriots to make the decision this week.
While Raiders players put out a statement through the NFLPA on Thursday saying they were going to skip the voluntary portion of the offseason workout program, a source confirmed the language contained within the statement allows for those with workout bonuses to go ahead and participate.
ESPN Stats and Information shows that nine Raiders players have workout bonuses tied to this year — QB Derek Carr ($100,000), S Jeff Heath ($100,000), TE Darren Waller ($250,000), RB Jalen Richard ($125,000), LBs Nick Kwiatkoski and Cory Littleton ($250,000 each), DE Carl Nassib ($250,000), QB Nathan Peterman ($25,000) and OL Denzelle Good ($480,000).
The Raiders rank seventh in the NFL in terms of highest aggregate total of workout bonuses on current contracts at a combined $1.83 million (the Packers have the most at $5.04 million).
ESPN’s Paul Gutierrez contributed to this report.