MIAMI — I don’t know Adam Shaheen from, well, Adam.
He joined the Miami Dolphins last year during a pandemic in which NFL reporters and players were not allowed to mingle and even now that some of the league’s COVID-19 protocols allow for limited contact, media members were still required to stand behind retractable belt barriers about 12 feet from the tight end, as he answered questions on Saturday.
So Shaheen, and all the players who joined the team after 2019, remain strangers.
But I know Adam Shaheen is a man of conviction.
And I know there is a Narrative Industrial Complex out there that may soon want to paint him as a villain, or a bad guy, or part of a problem. But that’s not how I see him.
And, more importantly, that’s not how the Miami Dolphins see him.
Shaheen, you see, is not vaccinated for COVID-19. On a team that is reportedly over 90% vaxxed, he stands out.
The team’s unvaxxed players are pretty obvious to pick out. They’re the guys who have to wear a mask when they come out to practice, even as their vaccinated teammates don’t have to. They’re the ones who must get a COVID-19 test every day and are subject to fines if they don’t comply with that and other protocols that weren’t in place last year at the height of the pandemic.
This while those rules don’t apply to their vaccinated teammates.
The NFL, you see, is a multi-billion-dollar business. It wants to have a season without pause in 2021 and one way it has decided to ensure the games go on is by compelling, although not requiring, players to get vaccinated.
For Shaheen and other players who have chosen not to submit to a vaccine, it’s been a process they cannot possibly enjoy. He was, for example, quarantined and held out of practice recently despite testing negative for COVID-19 because he came in close contact with coach George Godsey, who is vaccinated and caught COVID-19 anyway.
“For me it’s a personal choice and it’s bigger than just COVID,” Shaheen told the reporters standing behind those ridiculous belts. “I’m not going to elaborate further on that. The NFL has been trying to push it. It’s no secret they’ve been trying to push it on unvaccinated guys.
“And, you know what, I’m going to continue to go through the protocols of the unvaccinated that they make me do. I’m not going to get fined. But they’re not going to strong-arm me into doing something for, you know, more freedom, when this is such a changing atmosphere and they’ve already taken away freedoms of the unvaccinated guys.
“This is such a changing environment and I’m going to keep my hands off and follow the rules that they have in place for me, but they’re not going to strong-arm myself into getting it. They’re not.”
Shaheen, a second-round pick of the Chicago Bears in 2017, seems to be a bright guy. He understands, for example, that because he missed 18 games in 2018 and ‘19 he became a disappointment for the Bears, who traded him to the Dolphins in July 2020.
He also understands what the NFL is trying to do with its protocols for the unvaccinated players. But does he resent it? Does it disappointment him?
“Yes and no,” he said. “This is a business. And from their (the NFL) point of view, they want us to play in the games. Absolutely, I get that. They’re trying to do everything they can.
“Now, that being said, for us to go and push more protocols than we had last year is beyond me. But, like I said, I’m going to do what they ask and require me and that’s going to be that. And, you know what, I’ll take it one day at a time.”
This is about that place where the people who want to turn everything, including sports, into a societal referendum on good and evil will pick sides.
Shaheen, the new face of unvaccinated Dolphins, joins Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins and Buffalo Bills receiver Cole Beasley among a minority class of NFL players who are portrayed as either heroes or really, really bad dudes helping to kill off everyone else.
Either way, it’s a difficult position to be in. It cannot be a fun spot for anybody who merely wants to play football to feed their family.
And to all this I recommend we all just stop. Breathe. Show each other some mercy and grace, for God’s sake.
That’s what the Dolphins are doing. Listen to how coach Brian Flores, who is vaccinated, is handling the whole issue on a diverse roster that is both vaxxed or unvaxxed:
“Everyone has got their own personal reasoning or beliefs behind vaccinations or getting vaccinated or not getting vaccinated,” Flores announced during his first press conference of this training camp.
“I respect everyone’s choice in that matter. I’m not going to pressure anyone. I’m just going to give them the information. I’m not going to judge anyone’s commitment to the team. I’m just going to give them the information, allow them to make their choice and if we are going to work around something, we’ll work around it.
“We’re always going to try to do what’s in the best interest of the team given whatever the situation may be. For example, if someone is vaccinated and someone is unvaccinated, we have to just work around it and do the best we can.”
There are some things I passionately disagree with Flores about — that zero blitz on third-and-20 against Pittsburgh in 2019 chief among those. (No, I haven’t forgotten).
But his words on this topic drip wisdom. And leadership.
Flores has doubtless repeated those words to his players and they’ve taken them to heart because they’re repeating them to other people now.
So, ask receiver Lynn Bowden whether he supports or opposes teammates getting vaccinated or staying unvaccinated and his answer, while not swaying to one side or another, defends freedom of choice.
“That’s their personal decision,” Bowden said. “I’m not going to say I’m against. I’m not going to say I’m with it. I’m obviously vaccinated. I did it for my kids. I didn’t want to bring anything home, even though you still can get sick.
“I’m not against it; I’m not with it. I did it out of my personal choice. I guess I could just tell them to read up on it and make a decision; but we’re playing in the NFL so they got the last say of what’s going to go on and like I said, it’s a personal decision.”
Shaheen agrees with everyone making their own decision. He is not an advocate of masks, for example. But he’s not going to judge people who wear them — even as they’re driving in their own car, by themselves, with the windows up.
“Belief about masks, I mean listen, I believe that we live in the greatest nation on the Earth,” Shaheen said. “And I think from the start it’s been about people’s choice. If you want to wear a mask and protect yourself and those around you, as they say, all for it. No problem.
“If I don’t want to, in my opinion, it shouldn’t be looked down upon when you don’t do one side or the other. That’s part of what I alluded to earlier, it’s part of the bigger problem with this entire thing.
“Now with that said, same with the vaccine, I think it’s your choice. That’s really all that needs to be said.”
