Falcons: Todd Gurley prepared to sit out the season amid the coronavirus pandemic

According to Pro Football Talk, Todd Gurley said he is prepared to sit out the 2020 season if the NFL and NFLPA cannot come up with a good plan to protect players from the pandemic. So far, he hasn’t been impressed with what the league has in place, and frankly, who can blame him. The NFL had months to learn from other sports about how to approach the pandemic, and to this point, they’ve just ignored it, hoping it would go away. Well, that’s not going to happen, and they need to get their stuff together… quickly. Here’s the exact quote from Gurley, via Pro Football Talk. 

“It’s really not structured right,” Gurley said on Tiki and Tierney. “There’s not a proper plan in place that I’m comfortable with. I don’t have a wife. I don’t have any kids. But you have to look at guys on the other side who have pregnant wives, kids and a wife that they go home to every single day. I just feel like in general we just need to come up with something a lot better than what they’re giving us. Everything they gave us is pretty last minute. We should have been able to have answers weeks ago, if not months ago.”

The 25-year-old signed a one-year deal with the Falcons this offseason worth up to $6 million after being cut by the Rams because of concerns regarding his knee. He’s said on multiple occasions over the last few months that he is as healthy as he possibly can be (those chronic knee issues aren’t going to go away; they can only be monitored). However, a year off to let his body recover entirely probably isn’t the worst idea. 

Hopefully, the NFL can turn things around and come up with a safe plan for the players and their families under these unfortunate circumstances. But if they can’t, I don’t blame players one bit for opting to sit out. 

As far as the Falcons are concerned, this is discouraging on multiple levels. The excitement from the fans and Gurley himself, regarding his return to Georgia was through the roof. They also will need to search through the free-agent market for a new running back if he decides to opt-out, and there aren’t exactly a bunch of All-Pros waiting to be signed.

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