As the NFL plans for how to play through the coronavirus pandemic, the league distributed new game-day protocols to teams on Wednesday. As word spread, some of the rules -- such as a ban on postgame jersey swaps -- drew the ire of current and former players on social media, even though the NFL Players Association has signed off on the policy.
Here's a roundup of what players are saying about the new rules that will take effect for 2020 preseason and regular-season games.
This is a perfect example of NFL thinking in a nutshell. Players can go engage in a full contact game and do it safely. However, it is deemed unsafe for them to exchange jerseys after said game. ππ€£π https://t.co/fWefsUSVDc
β Richard Sherman (@RSherman_25) July 9, 2020
I get off Twitter for a couple hours and I come back to them telling us no jersey swaps ..... It's something every other day dawg π€¦πΎββοΈ
β F L β‘οΈ S H (@Melvingordon25) July 9, 2020
thats DAMN SILLY bro.. π€¦πΎββοΈ https://t.co/QDOwn2G3bc
β Deshaun Watson (@deshaunwatson) July 9, 2020
But we can tackle eachother? Cmon now https://t.co/lT63mvb0jO
β Savage (@kennyvaccaro) July 9, 2020
So I can be tackled during a game but after I can't swap jerseys ???
β IG MikeDavisRB (@MikeDavisRB) July 9, 2020
why won't the NFL just say they don't want players swapping jerseys lol! this wild... and what happens if they swap anyway?
β Shane Vereen (@ShaneVereen34) July 9, 2020
What is stopping Jersey swap going to do? We already played in a whole game!! pic.twitter.com/S5XgYhs89Y
β DJ Mooreπ« (@idjmoore) July 9, 2020
So we can tackle each other for 60min but can't exchange jersey that takes 2 minsπππ https://t.co/5RKq54T0mH
β Darius Slay (@bigplay24slay) July 9, 2020
This has to be a joke... https://t.co/OrJBcBtiFl pic.twitter.com/cA8Iu0LI39
β Randall Cobb (@rcobb18) July 9, 2020
π€£π€£π€£π€£ yooo so we could hit each for 60 minutes but we can't switch jerseys, y'all look stupid
β Jonathan Feliciano (@MongoFeliciano) July 9, 2020