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The competitive part of the sports world has pretty much come to a halt. I thank the WWE for still putting on a live show, albeit with no fans in the crowd, at their performance center in Orlando, Florida last night. The year 2020 could go down in history as one we’ll always remember, not just for how cool the number looks, but for how the coronavirus situation has impacted so many things in life for at least the next month.
The NFL is in an interesting spot. The new league year, including the start of free agency, is set to begin Wednesday, March 18th, at 4:00 PM. The official league salary cap for 2020 has not been announced, although both the NFL and the NFLPA are expecting it to be set at $200 million, an increase from $188.2 million in 2019.
Why hasn’t the NFL officially announced this year’s cap? My guess is that they are waiting for the NFLPA to vote on the collective bargaining agreement. Congratulations to Cleveland Browns center JC Tretter, who was just elected the new president of the NFLPA a few days ago. Tretter is encouraging players to vote on the proposed CBA, with the deadline being tonight.
Players: You still have time to vote. Make sure you get informed with the facts. Use all of your resources: Player Rep, Player Director, myself. Deadline is Saturday 11:59pm EST https://t.co/NaB01U5Hji
— JC Tretter (@JCTretter) March 11, 2020
It has been rumored that the vote could go either way. The coronavirus thing might actually sway players to vote “Yes,” realizing that a “No” vote could complicate things further and they might not get a better deal than what is on the table now.
On the flip side, it’s also been rumored that the NFL could also wait until after the vote is over to delay the start of free agency, if they are going to do so. But ESPN’s Adam Schefter said his league sources tell him things are “business as usual,” even though team executives don’t see how things can start on time:
NFL continues to say it’s business as usual and new league will start this week.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 14, 2020
Multiple team officials express widespread skepticism that the NFL can start its league year this week, when our country is in crisis and so much - travel, visits, physicals - would have to happen.
We will see how things go on Sunday. I plan on doing my annual salary cap breakdown of how much cap space the Browns have, among several other pieces to prepare for the start of free agency. It’s a weird and different situation, but at least we’re all experiencing it together.