Kyle Peko is 27 years old, listed at 6' 1" and 305 pounds. He is the father of two young kids and his wife, Giuliana, is a survivor of stage 3 Hodgkins lymphoma who finished chemotherapy and entered remission in late 2019. He is moderately to severely asthmatic, dutifully puffing on his inhaler once a day to keep his breathing under control, as he has done for the majority of his life.
Shelby Harris is 29 years old, listed at 6' 2" and 290 pounds. He is a father of three young kids and his wife, Stephanie, is pregnant, due in January. He is moderately to severely asthmatic, using a daily inhaler and occasionally needing to fortify his lungs before games with medicine from a nebulizer machine. He also suffers from sleep apnea, wearing a CPAP mask to bed every night, and carries the sickle cell trait.
Last month, as the NFL and NFLPA headed toward an agreement allowing players to opt out of the 2020 season due to health concerns amid the coronavirus pandemic, these two Broncos defensive linemen were forced to tackle the same Hamletian dilemma regarding their football futures: To play, or not to play, that is the question.
Neither option was without risk. On the one hand, medical experts say that no other sports league is more likely to host an outbreak than the NFL, between its squadrons of sideline personnel, full-contact collisions on every snap, and decision to eschew a bubble approach. And if a breakout does happen, the number of individuals at risk of severe illness due to COVID-19from 65-and-older coaches on the sidelines to in-their-prime athletes with underlying health conditionswill no doubt be high.
On the other, no league offers its players a smaller window of time to secure life-changing money. The average NFL career lasts roughly three years and is mined with plenty of non-viral hazards, from broken bones to torn ligaments to battered brains; it only seems natural that players would make similar calculations about playing through a pandemic. After all, theres no guarantee that a roster spot will be waiting for them when they return in 2021. And while the stipend for players opting out is nothing to scoff athigh-risk players will receive $350,000, while voluntary opt-outs only get $150,000 as a salary advance toward next seasonits hardly a nest egg.
Harris (left) and Peko.
USA Today Sports (2)
Harris spent days wrestling with his choice. Chief among his concerns was the toll that contracting COVID-19 could take on his body given his asthma, one of 15 conditions on the NFL/NFLPAs high-risk list. It affects the respiratory system, he says. That worried the hell out of me. But when he weighed the professional benefits against the personal risks, like so many other workers in so many other fields today, he opted against opting out.
Im getting older, so every year I can get in the league, Ive got to take, says Harris, who became a full-time starter for the first time last season, his sixth in the league, and now will make a little more than $3 million in 2020. Its a scary thought: If you dont play this year, theres going to be another draft, another free agency [class] regardless, and theres a good chance you could get replaced. The league waits for no one.
Peko struggled too. After toggling between the practice squads and active rosters of the Bills and Colts last season, and then latching on with the Broncos in mid December, he was set to make $675,000, more than half of what he earned over his first four years combined, in 2020. Pretty tough decision, he says. Football is what Ive been doing for so long. But when he weighed the personal benefits against the professional risks, like so many other football players, his asthma and Giulianas recent cancer bout overruled all of the pros and cons, he says. With these trying times, I had to make the best decision for me, my health, and the health of my family.
I sent an email to Mr. Elway and the team, and told them that Im a high-risk opt-out, wished them best of luck, and said that I look forward to having an opportunity to be back in 2021.
Similar ages, similar body types, similar family situations, same job responsibilities, same chronic respiratory disease and divergent paths. Their choices were deeply personal, but as this seemingly unstoppable football season inches closer to reality, they were far from the only players who had to make them.
* * *
Until Cole Wick learned about the opt-out agreement after it was finalized on July 26, he was fully prepared to attend training camp. The 26-year-old tight end was comfortable enough with the health-and-safety protocol put in place by the Saints, whose practice squad he had joined last December. In fact, he was already halfway through an eight-hour road trip to New Orleans when he received the union memo, driving a car packed with clothes, recovery gear and, of course, his daily inhaler, nebulizer, and vials of liquid medication.
Upon arriving, Wick checked into a hotel and stayed up pretty much all night making phone callsto his wife, to his agent, to his parentsas he weighed his options. The next morning, he reported to the Saints practice facility and received a nasal swab COVID-19 test, still somewhat on the fence. I was so torn, says Wick, whose first four NFL seasons were spent across five franchises and primarily on practice squads, with only 11 regular-season games under his belt. I wasnt sure how I wanted to proceed. Theres safety, and then theres making a living, like we do on the field.
But he thought more about his wife, Kristinthe couple had only just learned that she was pregnant with their first child. He thought more about his asthma, which had made practicing with the Niners amid the California wildfires in 2018 a big struggle, and which labored his breathing so badly when a wave of Saharan dust recently rolled through Texas that Wick was initially convinced that hed caught the coronavirus. He also thought about the outbreak that was, at the time, hitting the Miami Marlins and MLB. And so Wick promptly turned around and drove back home to San Antonio, emailing Saints officials of his decision to sit out under the high-risk clause.
Im not entirely sure how the virus affects the lungs, but I know that it does affect the lungs, Wick says. And I know Ive been living with asthma for a long time. Its just the risk factor, know what I mean?
For players with underlying medical issues such as Wick, Peko and Harris, there were mainly two layers of risk. Specific and most serious to them is the increased likelihood that, because of their conditions, they could develop a severe illness as a result of contracting COVID-19. Peko and Harriss teammate Von Miller experienced a spate of symptomsweight loss, no sense of taste or smell, breathing issues exacerbated by his asthmafor several weeks after his initial diagnosis in April but believes he has escaped lasting, long-term impact. Others arent so lucky; for instance, myocarditis (heart inflammation) has cropped up among coronavirus patients in college football and shelved Red Sox pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez for the season.
We know there are some people who feel sick for a very long time, says Dr. Gretchen Snoeyenbos Newman, assistant professor of infectious disease at Wayne State University. We know some people have lung damage that continues on past when the virus has gone, though we havent been around COVID long enough to know how long that lasts. When we talk about young athletes, death is not the only bad outcome. Even if it doesnt require them to be intubated, even if they dont die from it, getting sick can have profound, career-altering effects.
Its hard to estimate exactly how many players could be in the viruss invisible crosshairs. Early on in the pandemic, an internal NFLPA study determined that more than 70% of union membership were considered high-risk. But that was based on well-documented medical data showing that Black populations are disproportionately affected by COVID-19, as well as CDC guidelines that included obesity, which is defined as a body mass index over 30. (In other words: virtually every lineman and then some.) When we talk about obesity, we dont fully know what that means for elite athletes with high BMI, Snoeyenbos Newman says. People who are mostly muscle definitely have some risk with high BMI, but we dont have data that breaks things down for COVID.
Sixty-nine players opted out in the end, according to the NFLPA, a third of whom (23) were offensive and defensive linemen. Asked how many were high-risk opt-outs and what the most commonly cited high-risk conditions were, a union spokesman declined comment, citing medical confidentiality. In addition to asthma, the NFL/NFLPA list contained, among others, hypertension, Type 2 diabetes (but not Type 1), sickle cell disease (but not the trait) and cancer. But it is safe to assume that far more high-risk players will be taking the field than not come September. I know a number of guys who are high-risk and playing, Peko says. Some dont have obligations off the field. Some dont have a wife or kids and theyre willing to risk their own health to play for their future. And I dont blame them. I get it.
The other layer of risk is all but baked into the sport. Rosters alone are big enough to make sideline social distancing virtually impossible, and thats without considering the dozens of coaches, trainers, doctors, officiating crews, chain crews and camera crews needed to stage an NFL game. Most plays are preceded by huddles and end with pileups. Quarterbacks incessantly lick their fingers. Everyone spits and sweats, and hardly anyone drinks their own water. When we think about coronavirus spread, we think about proximity, droplet generation, and duration, Snoeyenbos Newman says. All football players are professional droplet generators.
It stands to reason, then, that those players charged with clashing in the trenches, snap after snap, are most vulnerable by simple virtue of their position. The CDC talks about 10 to 15 minutes of exposure as being high-risk, and they dont define whether thats at one go or accumulated, says Snoeyenbos Newman. The several minutes that your linemen are in contact with each other, multiplied by however many downs of a game, does give you this cumulative exposure risk. It isnt zero for anybody, but its the highest for linemen.
As he was making his decision, Peko called a handful of teammates and other friends around the league to see what they were thinking. Many of the linemen he spoke to expressed a similar sort of concern about their basic job duties. I believe that the NFL and the teams are doing the best they can to prevent any exposure, or containing the problem if there is an exposure, Peko says. But no matter what, every play, were getting gritty and hands-on, were transferring our breath, our sweat, our blood constantly. Baseball, theyre not full contact, and theyre getting these cases. Footballs going to get a number of them. Its just inevitable.
Even while they watch from home on Sundays, safely ensconced on their couches, Wick, Peko and other players who opted out wont have a worry-free year. There is the dice roll that everyone casts in this country when they so much as go to the grocery store these days. There is the much more football-specific challenge of keeping themselves from falling out of shape in the fall and winter months, when they would otherwise have access to an NFL franchises gaudy resources. And, even though the contracts of every opt-out, medical or voluntary, will toll until 2021, for many there is the looming uncertainty of their employment status that awaits their return.
Ill still be with the Saints, unless they cut me, and thats my fear, Wick says. The risk is there.
* * *
By now, the unfamiliar has become routine. Each morning, as soon as he wakes up, Harris fills out a survey on his phone that, among other questions, asks whether hes developed a fever or come into contact with anyone with COVID-19. Answering no to them all, he says, he is given a barcode that is later scanned upon arrival at the Broncos facility. Before he can enter, though, he must first receive a nasal swab test, a thermal temperature scan, and a tracking device that blinks red if he comes within six feet of another person. Then when were walking in, our phones are sanitized, he says.
Inside the building, where arrows on the floor have made each hallway a one-way street for Harris and his teammates, masks are mandatory. Tall dividers separate locker stalls. Meals are served in to-go packaging and eaten at socially distanced tables. Constantly washing, sanitizing your hands, Harris says. Everyone gets their own water bottle, its not just a free-for-all. The same is true for the workout area, where each player must lift on a weight rack by himself and wipe down the equipment when hes done. D-line meetings were moved to a more spacious room so everyone can spread out. By the time Harris returns his tracker and heads home around 5:30, not a moment has passed without the presence of the virus.
Its very different, Harris says, but its also a welcome sense of security given his health conditions. I really didnt know necessarily what it would take to feel comfortable to go back. It was just like, O.K., wow me. So when I saw the measures the Broncos have been taking, it definitely made me feel comfortable.
In a way, it was confirmation of a stone-cold, if not sobering, sort of logic that had helped persuade Harris to play when he was considering opting out. As he says, Itd look really bad if someone died because of the NFL, so theyve got to go through everything possible to make sure everyones safe.
Since the NFL isnt housing team employees in bubbles for the 2020 season, mitigation starts with individual accountability on common-sense protocols while away from the facility, such as social distancing, avoiding large indoor gatherings, and wearing masks. (And not, say, sneaking friends into hotels disguised as players.) Everyone has to come together as an NFL family and be like, if we want to have a full season, guys are going to have to not be selfish and do what theyre asking us to do, says Buccaneers center Ryan Jensen, who has obstructive sleep apnea, a respiratory condition that, while on neither the CDC nor NFL/NFLPA high-risk lists, is still associated with issues such as heart attacks and high blood pressure. Guys got to keep themselves accountable, and not be going out and putting themselves at risk and in turn putting everyone else at risk.
Its why the NFLPA established a confidential whistleblower hotline for players to report potential violations of protocol. (A union spokesperson declined comment when asked if the hotline had been used yet.) And its why shedding the classic athlete-warrior, grind-through-the-pain mentality in favor of a culture of self-reporting symptoms might be the key to keeping the virus under raps. Weve trained these players to play through the pain, and to want to play, says Snoeyenbos Newman, herself a former college rugby captain. Now, in order to be a productive and helpful member of your team, were asking players to do the exact opposite,
Of course, its unrealistic to expect zero slip-ups. (As of Aug. 12, according to the NFLPA, 64 players had tested positive since they began reporting to training camp.) Thats why its such a big deal that everyone is tested, Harris says. Once you finally do start hitting each other, theres going to be spit, theres going to be all sorts of stuff all over the place. We need to have the comfort knowing everyone is COVID-negative.
On this front, a recent NFL/NFLPA agreement extended daily testing through Sept. 5, five days before the Chiefs and Texans are to kick off the season. Its not hard to speculate why owners mightve balked at committing to the full season just yet (the answer rhymes with honey). Regardless, last weeks emergency FDA authorization of a cheap, rapid-response saliva test was a promising development for sports leagues and society in general.
Perhaps even more critical than catching cases at the door, though, is having strict protocol to limit the ripple effects if the virus gets inside. It is very, very challenging to think about when someone tests positive, Snoeyenbos Newman says. Lets say your center tests positive. Well, are you going to isolate your whole line for several days? What about your tight end? What about your quarterback? What the Marlins have shown us, you can have spread even with very aggressive testing. And most of those people [were] asymptomatic.
For those who have returned to work, nothing is the same. Its crazy, every morning, showing up to the facility, having to get a Q-tip shoved up your nose, Jensen says. But as training camps around the league have plodded on, progressing to a full-contact stage this week, some measure of normalcy has taken hold. Besides the little things, the masks, the social distancing in the locker room, Jensen says, everyones back to that normal vibe of guys just hanging out and talking ball and excited for the season.
Another step closer toward Week 1, in the league that waits for no one.
Link:
High-Risk Players and the Pressures of the Pandemic Season - Sports Illustrated
