Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores has been steadfast on revealing the dynamics of his team and their personal decisions regarding getting vaccinated for COVID-19. As the NFL braces for their second season since the arrival of the global pandemic, new protocols and procedures have been put in place to account for the discrepancies on each team’s individual roster — which are going to have various amounts of vaccination levels as players make a choice for themselves.
The league is not mandating players be vaccinated but make no mistake — life will be a lot more routine for players who have received the vaccination as compared to those who aren’t.
And while Flores has been unwilling to discuss the personal choices of his players, a good practice for player relations, a new report has arisen giving some context to where the Dolphins stand versus the rest of the NFL. According to a new report from Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, the Dolphins are one of just two teams across the NFL to have surpassed the 85% threshold of vaccinations among players.
Sources: Two teams have crossed the much-talked about 85% threshold for player vaccinations (fully vaccinated or in the process). Those two are the Dolphins and Saints.
Nothing's agreed upon yet, but NFL and NFLPA have discussed relaxed protocols for teams over that threshold.
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) June 17, 2021
According to Breer, there is an outside chance that the decisions of the vast majority of the Dolphins’ players could end up reaping benefits for all players, even those who have not been vaccinated. Breer suggests that the NFL and the NFLPA have discussed relaxing protocols and procedures for entire teams who surpass that threshold.
The Dolphins have been among the teams at the forefront of the NFL’s handling of COVID-19 in general — the team was among the first to put in COVID-19 policies for game day events at Hard Rock Stadium and has used their grounds to help the community push forward with testing for the virus. And now it seems as though Miami’s head-on approach to meeting the pandemic has positioned the players themselves to feel comfortable with embracing the virus in a bid to return to normalcy.
