Unvaccinated NFL assistants to be banned from direct interactions with players, meetings?
The NFL and NFL Players Association are not mandating players be vaccinated to participate in official league-related activities or the upcoming season, but commissioner Roger Goodell reiterated to owners ahead of the Memorial Day weekend that essential staff members in direct contact with players are to be vaccinated unless they can claim a legitimate exemption for health or religious reasons.
NFL Network's Tom Pelissero reports assistant coaches from at least four teams could lose their Tier 1 status because of their continued refusal to get COVID-19 vaccine shots. Unless they receive jabs by the end of next week, they will be banned from having direct interactions with players and also from meeting rooms and fields.
Pelissero's report isn't clear how many assistants, if any, could be exempt from receiving one of the available vaccines, but Pro Football Talk's Michael David Smith asked an obvious question likely to come up among staff members as spring turns to summer: Just how much is an assistant coach worth if he's not willing to do something to be in close proximity to players during training-camp sessions and, perhaps, the season?
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