National health concerns have changed the way NFL teams are doing contracts for free agency — and some players won’t be happy about it.
NFL teams are placing coronavirus-19-related provisions in their contracts stating a failed physical will result in forfeited signing bonus money, multiple league sources told ESPN.
The problem is that some players might not get a physical for months because of travel logistics related to the coronavirus, which has caused teams to shut down their operations for an indefinite period.
If a player signs a three-year, $30-million contract with a $10-million signing bonus this week, for example, but he fails a physical in June, he could lose the $10 million and be bound to a three-year, $20-million deal, potentially.
It’s uncertain how many teams are drawing this hard line, but several sources have encountered the provision when finalizing contracts over the last two days.
In a typical NFL year, a physical is necessary to consummate a deal. This year, many players are signing the deals and hoping for the best.
The NFL is giving teams the option to conduct a physical with an independent doctor. This is the case with Tom Brady and the Buccaneers, who, according to ESPN’s Jeff Darlington, are organizing a physical in the New York area where Brady lives.
Teams are trying to adjust to a vastly different free agency than in years past. When the league year started at 4 p.m. ET on Wednesday, teams couldn’t officially announce player signings on social media.
But on Thursday the NFL told teams that is now allowing transactions to be announced if A) the team and player agree to terms of a contract, or B) a written contract has been sent to a player and agent.