Yahoo Finance Eagles cornerback Darius Slay questioned 2020 NFL season initially: 'We shouldn't have had one'
Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Darius Slay believes the NFL shouldn’t have held a season in 2020 due to COVID-19. Slay commended the Eagles and his teammates for how they are handling coronavirus protocols, but admitted he initially wasn’t sure there should be a 2020 NFL season due to the pandemic.
Slay made those comments on a call with Eagles media Wednesday.
Darius Slay on the NFL playing this season amid COVID: “We shouldn’t have had one.”
— Tim McManus (@Tim_McManus) October 7, 2020
Slay wasn’t the only NFL player who felt that way. A number of players — including Patrick Chung and Damien Williams — opted out of the 2020 NFL season before things got underway.
Why didn’t Darius Slay opt out of the 2020 NFL season?
While some will question why Slay is still playing despite his doubts, Slay gave some insight into that later in the conversation. He explained that he feels safe around the Eagles.
Darius Slay said he didn't think there should have been an NFL season this year because of COVID-19 and it's going to effort from everybody to finish it.
"It's a difficult time. But we all made sacrificies. ...Our staff, our team, the Eagles are doing a great job securing us."— Zach Berman (@ZBerm) October 7, 2020
Slay also commended the team and staff for “doing a great job securing us.”
Once Slay’s “We shouldn’t have had one” comment picked up traction, he attempted to clarify those comments. Slay said he was initially skeptical of the 2020 NFL season, but changed his mind after hearing how the NFL and the Eagles planned to handle the virus.
The #Eagles brought back Darius Slay to do another Zoom to clarify his earlier comments. He said that he originally didn't think the NFL should have had a season, but changed his mind when he found out more about how the league would handle protocols, etc. https://t.co/3fgnLm2hex
— Jeff McLane (@Jeff_McLane) October 7, 2020
The Eagles experienced a couple of positive coronavirus tests when the team began camp in late July. The team placed at least three players on the COVID-19/reserve list around that time, and also saw head coach Doug Pederson test positive for the virus.
The team has not experienced additional positives since August.
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