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The Kansas City Chiefs are scheduled to host the Houston Texans for the first game of the NFL season at Arrowhead Stadium on Thursday night, September 10. This would normally be banner night — the night when the reigning world champion raises a banner to commemorate winning the last Super Bowl.
With a limited number of fans (or none at all) in the stadium due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Chiefs may opt to hold off on the “banner” part of banner night until a later date. But right now, that is likely the least of their problems.
Since the Chiefs and Texans start their season three days earlier than the rest of the NFL, their rookies and quarterbacks are the first to report to training camp. On Monday of this week, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that date to be Saturday, July 18 — about 48 hours from this writing.
Chiefs and Texans rookies are scheduled to report to camp Saturday. All players must take COVID-19 tests 48 hours in advance. Yet there has been no clearance yet from the NFL and both teams, like the 30 others, are awaiting word from the league about how to proceed, per sources.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) July 13, 2020
Texans defensive end JJ Watts expressed his concerns on his official Twitter account Thursday afternoon.
In the interest of having everyone on the same page in terms of what we know and don’t know at this time, here are a few things I’ve learned being on four NFLPA calls in the last two weeks with hundreds of other players.
— JJ Watt (@JJWatt) July 16, 2020
Keep in mind our rookies are scheduled to report in 48 hrs pic.twitter.com/wAH1XyQenf
“In the interest of having everyone on the same page in terms of what we know and don’t know at this time, here are a few things I’ve learned being on four NFLPA calls in the last two weeks with hundreds of other players,” Watt wrote, before providing a list:
• Players want to play.
• Players have not been given an Infections Disease Emergency Response plan (IDER).
• Players don’t know anything about the preseason
• Players don’t know how training camp is meant to operate safely.
• Players aren’t sure how often they will be tested or what will happen to them and the team if they test positive for coronavirus.
Watt’s list is made up of four items that you would think would have to be worked out before players reported to Houston and One Arrowhead Drive, where the Chiefs are to hold training camp beginning next week. As of Thursday evening, there were still no definitive plans on the preseason.
From the outside looking in, the NFL appears very much ill-prepared. And with having to play the first game, the Chiefs (and Texans) might unfortunately be the league’s guinea pigs.
Arrowhead Pride Editors Show
We discussed the status of the NFL, the days-later reaction to the Chris Jones contract, Patrick Mahomes in GQ, Brett Veach and the best Chiefs thing we heard all week on the latest edition of the Arrowhead Pride Editors Show.