Earlier this week the NFL revealed plans for a “bubble” environment for the 324 prospects attending the 2022 NFL Scouting Combine due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Players are required to be restricted to secure Combine locations during the course of the event. The league also added significant limits to the number of support personnel that players are allowed to have with them. These particular restrictions didn’t sit well with media, agents, players and even the NFLPA.
As a result, it appears the NFL has a bit of a protest on its hands. According to a report from NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, agents for over 150 prospects plan to have their players boycott all testing, on-field workouts and interviews at the combine.
Unless the NFL and the combine agree to ease those restrictions — allowing players access to their full team of coaches, trainers, ATCs et al. as in past years — many top prospects will only do medical evaluations next month in Indianapolis. https://t.co/orMpYcx3qD
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) February 21, 2022
In years past the NFL has allowed a full allotment of coaches, trainers and other support personnel for a given prospect. Some agents land top draft prospects under the guise of being able to provide such services at these big NFL events.
The league seemingly dialed back on COVID-19 protocols in order to ensure a smooth end to the 2021 NFL season. They might be faced with bending on these protocols or risk one of their premier pre-draft events suffering for it.