The Chicago Bears have had two players decide to forgo the 2020 season due to health and safety concerns with COVID-19, including nose tackle Eddie Goldman and safety Jordan Lucas. While the losses are significant, especially Goldman, the Bears understand and respect those players’ decisions to opt out.
The NFL set a Thursday deadline for players to decide to opt out, but it excludes emergency situations if a close family member gets sick with COVID-19 or if players are newly diagnosed with a high-risk condition. As of Wednesday, there have been 60 players that have opted out of the 2020 season.
When asked if he believes any other Bears players might opt out, head coach Matt Nagy was upfront with his answer. While he believes his team is in a great place, there’s no way to know what will happen between now and Thursday’s late-afternoon deadline.
“We have no idea,” Nagy told reporters on Wednesday. “I think right now the pulse of our team, we’re in a really good place. We’re kind of in a rhythm right now. You ask some of the guys how they’re feeling in regards to the setup that we have here, and controlling what we can control is giving them a lot of space.
“And then also just talking through this whole procedure, everything about it, we spent a lot of time into where we’re at and how we go about it and the details of everything and then we let them make their decision. But I think for them it’s just to make the best decision for them, and then we fully support anybody that does that.”
The deadline for any other Bears players to opt out is Thursday at 3 p.m. CT.
