As of this writing, five NFL teams — the Denver Broncos, Seattle Seahawks, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Detroit Lions and New England Patriots — have all made statements (via the NFL Players Association) regarding a boycott of voluntary offseason workouts.
The statements’ content is varied, though the message is the same: with coronavirus remaining a threat to players’ livelihoods, they would like to see a repeat of last year’s all-virtual offseason — especially given little downtick in 2020’s quality of play.
Seeing five teams opt out in unity over the past 24 hours may lead one to believe that every team would eventually follow suit, but that is unlikely to be the case, according to a new report from Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio.
Per a source with knowledge of the situation, the union won’t be pushing teams that have a significant number of players with workout bonuses to join in the effort.
The source specifically mentioned the Packers and Bills. Via OverTheCap.com, the Bills have 28 players with workout bonuses totaling $3.172 million. The Packers have 19 players with workout bonuses, but the total value (the highest in the league) is $5.065 million.
The Jaguars (24 players, $3.725 million) and the Chiefs (25 players, $3.053 million) also have either more than 15 players or more than $2 million in total workout bonuses.
On March 30, the league informed clubs that offseason workout programs can begin this Monday, April 19. Despite the boycotts that have come through, it looks as though that will likely remain the case for the Kansas City Chiefs.