Tampa Bay Buccaneers starter raises concerns for 2020 season
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are one of the darkhorses to make it to the Super Bowl during the 2020 season, but there are certainly concerns about when (and if) the season will be played.
The Buccaneers made two major additions in the offseason with the signing of QB Tom Brady and the trade for TE Rob Gronkowski and that had fans extremely excited about the prospect of the upcoming season.
That being said, there has been growing concerns from a group of NFL players about their safety, as well as their family’s, should they choose to play the season.
Buccaneers starting LT Donovan Smith was the latest to voice his concerns.
#Bucs LT Donovan Smith has some real concerns about his safety and that of his family returning to play football amid the coronavirus pandemic with his first child due in three weeks. pic.twitter.com/vIUNNdxHEO
— Rick Stroud (@NFLSTROUD) July 10, 2020
Smith addresses some legitimate questions as we inch closer to the start of the 2020 Buccaneers season
There is no way to properly social distance while playing the game of football. We all know that if a season is played, there is going to be an inherent risk.
Smith addresses the fact that he isn’t happy to be taking a pay cut and still playing while potentially endangering his wife and newborn child in the process. Right now, the Buccaneers LT said there are too many unknowns and that he isn’t impressed with the testing process currently that still doesn’t yield results until at least 24 hours following the test.
"“I am not a lab rat or a guinea pig to test theories on,” Smith concluded. “I am a man, a son, a brother, soon to be father, and I deserve to be safe at work.”"
While many will look at this statement and believe that this is just the beginning of the end for the 2020 NFL season, I’m going to choose to take a more positive approach, at least for now.
Smith isn’t saying he doesn’t want to play. He’s not saying that he’s not willing to play. What he wants is to see the NFL release and dictate legitimate regulations and policies to show that it has the player’s best interest at heart. He wants to see the testing procedures sped up and become more efficient.
These are questions that many NFL players are going to ask and it may very well come down to a split between those who are willing to take the rest and those who would rather sit out the season.