Bruce Arians warns of stiff fines for unvaccinated players who breach protocols

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are the latest team to make clear that unvaccinated players will receive intense scrutiny during the 2021 season.

Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians revealed that any unvaccinated player spotted without a mask or breaching protocols in another way will be fined $14,000 on the spot. Arians also added that unvaccinated players will be subject to much stricter testing.

“A vaccinated player will get tested 14 times this year,” Arians said, via Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times. “An unvaccinated player will get tested 140.”

It’s another example of the NFL not mandating that players get vaccinated, but indicating that players who choose not to will be much more limited in what they can do off the field. The league itself made that clear with a memo earlier this week. The stance has rankled some players, but as Arians is demonstrating, rules for unvaccinated players look set to get more strict, not less, as time goes by.