Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane would cut an unvaccinated player if it allowed the team to escape the National Football League’s coronavirus protocols restricting in-person team meetings, he said.
When asked whether he would shrink the roster in the event that the team was one player away from reaching a league-required ratio threshold to hold unrestricted meetings, Beane said he would.
“It would be an advantage,” Beane said on the team-sponsored One Bills Live broadcast on Wednesday.
The recent season’s team meetings “were not as productive as before,” Beane said.
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The NFL’s COVID-19 protocol for the 2020-21 season limited teams to hosting most meetings on Zoom, and the league restricted how many players and coaches could gather in person at one time. Protocols also required players to undergo daily COVID-19 testing and wear masks.
“You guys saw it in the field house. We had three and four meetings going on, and sometimes, you’re talking over each other. But it was the only way to pull it off and be socially distant,” Beane said. “So it would be an advantage to cut a player and fall under that umbrella.”
“I think there’s going to be some incentives. If you have ‘X’ number of percent of your players and staff vaccinated, you can live normal — let’s just call it ‘back to the old days,’” he added. “If you don’t, it’s going to look more like last year.”
Under the rules, fully vaccinated people must be tested weekly rather than daily. They will also not be required to quarantine if identified as a “high-risk close contact” and no longer have to submit to “entry” testing following travel, according to the NFL.
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In an April 13 memo, the league said that aside from medical or religious exceptions, team employees must be vaccinated or will not be able to work directly with players.
