Athletes hate being called dumb jocks, but sometimes the title fits.
And right now, the Tennessee Titans are proving that members of their rosters aren’t the sharpest tools in the shed.
How else can you explain risking it all for some workouts at a high school as your team is becoming the face of COVID-19 in the NFL?
According to reports, another member of the Titans tested positive for coronavirus on Thursday morning. Everybody was supposed to go home. The team shut down its facilities and prohibited players and coaches from getting together.
But, then a group of players decided to be dumb. Really dumb.
It’s been revealed that players broke protocol and got together to have informal workouts at a local high school in Nashville.
Massive professional football players thought that no one would recognize them walking around a high school.
Genius idea, fellas.
On top of that, a local news station confirmed that Titans starting quarterback Ryan Tannehill and the receiving corps participated in the workout.
This is what dumb jocks do. Because only someone that stupid could think that a 6-foot-4 and 217-pound quarterback, who signed a four-year $118 million contract extension earlier this year, could go unrecognized while throwing a football to NFL receivers during a global pandemic.
As you can guess, the NFL is scrambling to figure out what to do. And that means that some ill-conceived plan will be created that is doomed to fail. Earlier this week, the league announced that during testing from Aug 1 – Oct 3, 31 players and 53 other personnel were confirmed positive cases.
But, do you trust the NFL to be honest?
Because given their track record…
The willful lack of awareness for their health, and the health of others, that the Titans have exhibited as the coronavirus is having its way with the NFL make them the current face of the virus, but they aren’t the only ones who have been careless. Back in April, Tom Brady did something similar at a park in Tampa that was closed due to COVID-19. A city worker was out making sure that people were staying away from the parks when Brady was spotted going through this route tree.
Outside of the great health risks this behavior can lead to, there’s the fact that this is happening in a league where players are constantly reminding us that their contracts aren’t guaranteed. You would think that a workforce that could be fired at will would at least follow the rules that would allow them all to get back to business as usual, given that their money comes from game checks.
It’s the type of behavior one would expect to see from college football players, breaking quarantine to go to a frat party when they’re supposed to be socially distancing. But no, these are the actions of grown men who are oftentimes the economic leaders of their families.
Some will say that the league should come up with a system that will give them wiggle room if games need to be postponed. But that’s never going to happen, given that Super Bowl LV is scheduled for February 7, 2021, and that date is set in stone.
This year, we’ve seen basketball, hockey, soccer, tennis, golf, and baseball players follow the rules so that they can have some sort of season. And when a few broke the rules early on, they were quickly dealt with.
That isn’t the case here.
Why?
Because 2020 is proving that the NFL may be a league full of dumb jocks.