It's reporting day for rookies of the Houston Texans and Kansas City Chiefs.
It will be far from a normal first day of work, however.
NFL Network's Tom Pelissero reported Monday on Good Morning Football that players will be taking COVID-19 tests for the first two days.
"The first day is literally just a COVID-19 test. They take the test, they go home," Pelissero said. "They come back to the building on Tuesday, take another COVID-19 test. If they get two negatives (tests) in a row, only then can they move on to other things, be in the building, take their physical and move into team activities."
Chiefs and Texans rookies are required to report under the CBA even though there are still issues to work out under the health and safety protocols.
K.C. coach Andy Reid noted his team will work out of Arrowhead Stadium to ensure for better social distancing.
"We're going to do everything out of the stadium," Reid said. "The way they've set it up, we could have a ton of people social distance, more than we have with our football team. They've got it all set up with monitors and everything else. They've got each media room set up. They've split the Arrowhead Stadium in half, so one half, the defense is on one side, the offense is on the other side."
Reid noted that players being tested regularly will be a cornerstone of the plan to return to work but remaining socially distant when possible will be key.
"The guys are going to be tested often. It'll be good that way," he said. "And then, listen, there's a responsibility for coaches and players to make sure we handle ourselves right when we're away from it. We're still going to keep as much social distancing when we can. Obviously, it's contact sport. But when we're not in contact, we're going to keep our social distance when we're not playing. We have all that set up, we're going to have our masks set up and do all the things and wash our hands, do all those fundamental things. We're going to stay on top of that."
Pelissero also reported that the NFL has bent on its desire to play two preseason games and is instead proposing just one exhibition tilt.
The NFLPA must approve an Infectious Disease Emergency Response (IDER) plan before teams can have more than 20 players in the building. All 32 teams have submitted a plan, signed off on by the NFL and independent experts at Duke University.
Pelissero noted that as of Sunday night, the Chiefs are one of the three teams who have had their IDER plan signed off on by the player's union.
