Every player had to make a decision when the NFL finally got its 2020 training camp underway. Were they going to play amid the COVID-19 pandemic, or were they going to opt out?
Outside linebacker Whitney Mercilus wasn’t taking the same risk to play pro football every season since the Houston Texans drafted him in Round 1 of the 2012 NFL Draft. It wasn’t as though he would get COVID-19 and keep it at the team facilities, like a hamstring injury. There was a risk that he could spread the illness with his family.
“My sister just had a baby girl, so I like to be around my niece a lot, so it’s tough. I don’t want to be selfish as far as that goes,” Mercilus told reporters on Aug. 4. “Just talking to my fam about it — and I don’t want to catch it myself — we all agreed upon I’m going to go in, I’m going to do what I have to do. I’ll probably be keeping socially distanced away from them for quite a while, which I know a lot of guys around the league are doing, away from their wives, their kids and all that.”
Mercilus admits the decision was tough, but he is willing to see how it all plays out, including playing the first NFL game of the pandemic on Sept. 10 versus the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium.
“By the time we get to the first game, I don’t know,” Mercilus said. “We’ll see. As we hear around the league, some people were getting COVID and being put on the COVID-IR list or what not. Everything is up in the air. Ain’t no advantage.”
Mercilus is curious what the ramifications are if a player tests positive within 48 hours of kickoff on any given Sunday.
Said Mercilus: “As soon as you get tested on Friday, you get the results back in about 24 hours or whatnot, you’ll know if somebody has COVID pretty much the night before. By that time, I mean, you’ll have players that are already in contact with that person who has COVID. So, like, what happens then? Like 10? The whole team? Really, I don’t know as far as that goes and I don’t know what the guidelines for that goes as far as will they shut down that entire team? Will they shut down the game before then or are we still going to go play? That’s a good question.”
Mercilus made his decision to play ball. Now, it is the NFL’s job to keep Mercilus and other players safe as they attempt to play a contact sport in the age of social distancing.
