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      Tim Tebow: How Much Do You Remember?

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      Tim Tebow, 34, had a way of hanging around. When he didn’t immediately turn into a superstar N.F.L. quarterback, Tebow sat on the bench behind Kyle Orton until his chance came. When he didn’t fit the classic quarterback model, he won games with guile, luck and, some contended, magic. When football turned its back the first time, he tried baseball. Then Tebow gave football one last shot, as a tight end.Tebow was released Tuesday by the Jacksonville Jaguars, and his winding career appears to have finally come to an end. His story has enough twists to fill a sports movie and maybe its sequel. How much do you remember? More

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      First in N.F.L.: Atlanta Falcons Players 100 Percent Vaccinated, Team Says

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      The Atlanta Falcons announced on Monday that the team’s players are all vaccinated against the coronavirus, becoming the first N.F.L. team to reach 100 percent. Achieving that threshold means that all players on the roster now enjoy more freedom and are not subject to certain restrictions.Because all Falcons players are vaccinated, everyone on the team may eat together, work out in the same weight room and not be subjected to daily testing. Close contacts of an individual who tests positive will not need to quarantine. The Falcons said the team’s coaches are all vaccinated as well.As of Tuesday, 91.7 percent of all N.F.L. players are vaccinated, according to a league spokesman.In July, the N.F.L. essentially mandated that players receive the vaccine, saying that those who refuse would face steep possible penalties, like loss of paychecks and game forfeitures if it were proven that an unvaccinated person caused an outbreak that forced a game to be rescheduled. The N.F.L. and the N.F.L. Players Association have also relaxed virus-related protocols, like wearing masks and maintaining physical distance, for vaccinated individuals.The news comes as the regular season approaches and more teams mull vaccination requirements for fans who attend their home games. The New Orleans Saints and Las Vegas Raiders were the first clubs to require that fans show proof of having received at least one dose of vaccine before entering their stadiums. At Saints games, unvaccinated fans may also enter if they show a recent negative test result. More

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      Joe Walton’s Jets Could Have Been the Best Team in the N.F.L.

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      The former Jets Coach Joe Walton has a stadium named after him, but not in the New York area. A sportswriter recalls the coach’s up-and-down pro tenure and how he found glory, and peace, elsewhere.Joe Walton, who died on Sunday at age 85, presided over what I think of as “The Jets Era That Never Was.”He led the team from 1983 through 1989. There were moments when they looked like pro football’s best team. And there were the doldrums when fans bellowed “Joe Must Go!”In some ways, I believe, his career is a cautionary sports tale, an arc of an American dream.He was from Beaver Falls, Pa. — yes, the same town as Joe Namath. And he starred at the University of Pittsburgh as a receiver-tight end, a position he played after turning pro.Walton wasn’t very big but he worked extremely hard. And he was smart, not just in knowing the game. He joined the Jets in 1981 as the offensive coordinator under Coach Walt Michaels. The team had been in a constant struggle to get back to its one shining moment — when it won Super Bowl III at the end of the 1968 season as an 18-point underdog. Since then, the club had often struggled, its low points magnified because it played in the media epicenter that is New York. Not one coach had left it having a winning career record.Walton joined a team that had sunk to a 4-12 record in 1980. But he instituted an intricate offensive system, and his quarterback, Richard Todd, his running back, Freeman McNeil, and one of his wide receivers, Wesley Walker, generated terrific seasons.The defense roared through opponents, its defensive line anointed with the title “the New York Sack Exchange” — Joe Klecko, Mark Gastineau, Marty Lyons, Abdul Salaam. The Jets went 10-5-1.They got national attention and Gastineau later became a media celebrity because of his romance with the actress Brigitte Nielsen. The team even went to the American Conference championship the following year in a strike-shortened season, losing to the Miami Dolphins.But Michaels was fired by management after he went into a frenzied tirade on the charter flight home after dropping that game in Miami. He claimed that the Dolphins, the home team, had deliberately kept the field wet during a rainstorm to keep the Jets’ vaunted running game from taking hold.And so, Joe Walton took over in 1983 as head coach. His workouts were strenuous and I noticed the players trudged off the field as if they’d just played a game. Just before the season opened, I learned that one of his key players, cornerback Jerry Holmes, was going to jump to the newly formed United States Football League.I had Walton’s home number. I had called him there several times. Back then, most reporters had the head coach’s home number. But this was late at night — actually, midnight. When he heard my voice and question, he said, “Jerry, I’m going to do two things — I’m going to hang up, and in the morning, I’m going to change my telephone number.” The next day at Jets practice, I greeted Elsie Cohen, Walton’s secretary, and asked, “What’s new?”“Very strange,” she said. “The first thing Joe told me this morning was to have his home phone number changed.”Years later, when I was writing a book about the Jets’ (mostly) failures, “Gang Green,” I called Walton and asked him about that call.“When you’re a head coach,” he explained, “you’ve got a lot of different pressures. There’s not only the pressure to win, but the pressure to keep a team together and you have to deal with more than 40 guys and a whole staff.”Walton’s first two years as Jets head coach produced 7-9 records, but then the club roared back with a pair of winning seasons. They were up and down after that and then went into the 1989 campaign.When teams lose, often the head coach is blamed for doing the same things he did when it was winning. In Walton’s case, it was his obsession with perfection, for workouts that often dragged the players down, spent by the time the real game was starting. Injuries piled upon injuries.Walton was wistful when he spoke about 1989. “I still would have had a winning record if it wasn’t for that last year.”That last year was 1989, when the Jets went 4-12. It was over for Walton. But he eventually wound up at Robert Morris University, outside of Pittsburgh, where he created their football program and enjoyed a 20-year career. He was so popular there that the school named its stadium for him. Walton remains a legend there, not the least reason being that in Robert Morris’s first football year of 1994, he took the team, composed of freshmen, to a 7-1-1 record.I spoke to him during his college tenure and about fame and winning. There are some cities in which nothing less than a championship will do. He considered that thought from his small-town college home.“If you stay around long enough and you don’t win the Super Bowl, you get fired,” he said. “And sometimes when you win the Super Bowl you get fired.”At Robert Morris University, Joe didn’t have worry. He could be himself. I often wondered how his Jets tenure might have ended if he had permitted himself that luxury. More

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      Gallery Lures Soccer Fans to Tottenham Stadium for Art

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      A new gallery at the stadium of Tottenham Hotspur, a top London club, is presenting contemporary works to visitors, with mixed results.LONDON — Annie Lawrence, 8, was looking excited on Sunday afternoon. She was about to see Tottenham Hotspur, the soccer team she supports, play its first game of the English Premier League season — but her exhilaration wasn’t entirely because of the impending game.Lawrence was standing in OOF, a gallery dedicated to art about soccer that opened last month in a building attached to the club’s stadium gift shop. Some of the works on display seemed to be making her as happy as a Tottenham win.OOF’s opening show, “Balls” (until Nov. 21) features 17 pieces of contemporary art made using soccer balls, or representing them. There’s one made out of concrete, and another in silicon that looks like it’s covered in nipples.Pointing at a huge bronze of a deflated ball by Marcus Harvey, Lawrence said, “I’d like that one in my bedroom.” The artist said in a phone interview that the work might evoke anything from Britain’s decline as an imperial power to the end of childhood.Yet for Lawrence, its appeal was simpler: “It looks like you could sit in it, like a couch,” she said.Fans making their way to Tottenham Hotspur’s stadium on Sunday for the club’s first match of the English Premier League season.Alex Ingram for The New York TimesThe futuristic Tottenham Hotspur stadium viewed from a window of the gallery.Alex Ingram for The New York TimesAnnie Lawrence, 8, posing in front of one of her favorite works in the show: “Kipple #2” by Dominic Watson.Alex Ingram for The New York TimesLawrence then took her father upstairs and looked at a piece called “The Longest Ball in the World,” by the French artist Laurent Perbos. “It’s looks like a sausage!” she said, before grinning for photos in front of another piece that features a papier-mâché soccer ball rotating in a microwave.Not everyone was so enthusiastic about the works on display. Downstairs, Ron Iley, 71, looked at the ball covered in nipples by the Argentine artist Nicola Costantino. “Load of rubbish,” he said, then walked out.The worlds of art and soccer don’t necessarily mix. The most well-known recent work to combine both is a bust of Cristiano Ronaldo, the Portuguese player, that made headlines when it was unveiled in 2017 because it looked nothing like him. Other pieces, like Andy Warhol’s acrylic silk-screens of Pelé, are little more than simple tributes to great sportsmen.Eddy Frankel, an art critic who founded OOF with the gallerists Jennie and Justin Hammond, said he wanted to show that art about football, as soccer is known in Britain, can be exciting, complex and thought-provoking. “We’re using football to express ideas about society,” Frankel said. “If you want to talk about racism, bigotry, homophobia, or if you want to talk community and belief and passion: All of that, you can with football.”A visitor photographs Nicola Costantino’s “Male Nipples Soccer Ball, Chocolate and Peach.”Alex Ingram for The New York TimesFrankel said he used to keep his passion for soccer quiet in Britain’s art world, since “you can’t really get away with being into both.” That changed one night, in 2015, when he was at Sotheby’s to report on an auction of a monumental painting by Gerhard Richter, the German painter. The sale clashed with a game featuring Tottenham Hotspur, the club Frankel supports, so he started watching the match on his phone. Soon, about 15 people behind him were leaning over to get a view, he said.“I just went, ‘Oh, so there are people who care about football in the art world like I do,” Frankel said.In 2018 he launched OOF as a magazine that explored the intersection of his passions. “We thought we’d maybe get away with four issues,” he said. The biannual magazine is now on issue eight.Setting up an exhibition space seemed the logical next step, Frankel said, adding that he initially wanted to open it in a former kebab shop near Tottenham Hotspur’s stadium, which is in an area about eight miles north of London’s traditional gallery districts. But when he and his partners approached the local council for help, they suggested contacting the club instead, which offered a 19th century townhouse that sits incongruously outside the club’s futuristic stadium and is attached to its gift shop.Most of the works on display at OOF are for sale, with some pieces worth up to $120,000, yet the gallery has a much higher footfall than most commercial galleries. More than 60,000 fans come to the stadium on game days, and on Sunday, a few hundred spectators peeled off from the crowds for a look around, many dressed in Tottenham Hotspur’s uniform.OOF is located in a 19th-century townhouse owned by the club that can be reached via the stadium gift shop.Alex Ingram for The New York TimesOOF’s organisers: The art critic Eddy Frankel and the gallerists Jennie and Justin Hammond. “The Longest Ball in the World,” by Laurent Perbos, is on the floor in front of them.Alex Ingram for The New York TimesAbigail Lane’s “Self-Portrait as a Pheasant” is made from a football, bird wings, oil paint, painted wood and glass.Alex Ingram for The New York Times“We’re basically running a museum, without a museum budget,” Frankel said.A tongue-in-cheek sign at the entrance asks visitors not to kick the art, but not everyone had complied, Frankel said: On a recent visit, Ledley King, a former Tottenham Hotspur captain, had given “The Longest Ball in the World” a light boot.Pebros, the artist behind the work, laughed when told about the incident in a telephone interview. “Maybe he doesn’t go to many galleries, so he didn’t know,” he said.The current squad, including its famed striker Harry Kane, had not yet been to visit the gallery, Frankel said. The players were trying to keep social interactions to a minimum during the pandemic.“Obviously, we’re a commercial gallery so it’d be nice to sell some art,” Frankel said. “But the real success is if we can get loads of people through the door, and get them to engage in contemporary art, who normally wouldn’t,” he added.Many of the several hundred visitors on Sunday fit that bill. “We don’t go to galleries if we’re honest,” said Hannah Barnato, 27, there with her partner. “But it’s interesting. It’s different,” she said.Paul Deller’s “A Playground of Bubbleheads’,” a work the artist made in 2020 and 2021.Alex Ingram for The New York TimesSam Rabin, one of three guides in the gallery who talk the fans through the works, said that was a common reaction. “I’ve never heard the phrase, ‘It’s different,’ more than I have working here,” he said.But many visitors, especially children, showed a deep connection with the art on display, he said, adding that this proved soccer and art were not the separate worlds they might seem. “They’re both emotional experiences,” he said. “They’re both worthwhile experiences.” More

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      Cleveland Browns G.M. Talks the ‘Thrill’ of Turning the Team Around

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      Andrew Berry became the N.F.L.’s youngest-ever general manager at 32 last year. But his challenge is as old as the sport itself: finding a way to win.For most of the last two decades, the Cleveland Browns exemplified what it meant to be an N.F.L. bottom feeder.Between 2001 and 2019, the Browns enjoyed only two winning seasons and one playoff berth behind a rotating cast of starting quarterbacks, coaches and front-office executives. Fans attended games wearing paper bags over their heads in disgrace.But that changed last season under the direction of Andrew Berry, who at 32 became the N.F.L.’s youngest-ever general manager in January 2020.Berry’s smart free-agency signings and roster management helped vault the Browns into the playoffs, turning him into a rising star among his peers. Now, in Berry’s second season, the Browns are viewed as contenders in the A.F.C., an expectation the organization has not felt in years.He talked with The New York Times about how he approaches his job and the key to a strong relationship between quarterback Baker Mayfield and receiver Odell Beckham Jr.The interview has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity.You accepted the job just before the pandemic hit. How was it in the early days to manage your staff and get things rolling?Honestly, I think to some degree, the fact that we were a new football operations group may have played into our favor a little bit. We were largely still determining our processes and really how we would kind of build that out through the spring and summer. So I think having a little bit of a blank-slate approach allowed us to be pretty flexible and adaptable.How did the leadership try to change the culture away from the losing reputation that the Browns have historically had?I think the biggest thing was just having a narrow focus. We can’t control the outside narrative, but what we can control and focus on is how we work and how we improve on a daily basis. That really has been [Coach Kevin Stefanski’s] mind-set and our players’ mind-set from the beginning. And I think having that narrow focus was helpful because, you’re right, there is a lot of history around the organization that people like to bring up. But at the end of the day, I don’t know that that’s totally relevant to our guys.Cleveland played Kansas City in a divisional-round playoff game last season, just its second playoff berth this century.Charlie Riedel/Associated PressWhy do you think you’ve been successful in landing free agents, considering that Cleveland isn’t necessarily a top destination city like Los Angeles, New York or Miami?Usually, the two most attractive levers for free agents in most professional sports, I think, are having an opportunity to contribute to a winner, and then obviously the financial component. These guys are professionals. They want to win, and they want to be able to support their families in a very meaningful way.What does a typical day look like for you during the regular season?It varies a little bit, but I’m up at 5:40 a.m. every morning. I go to a CrossFit class in the morning before going to the office. And then every morning, I have my daily briefing with our player personnel coordinator, and then we’re really off to the races dealing with various team or roster-related issues until practice in the afternoon. Then, I usually try to get home anywhere between 6:30 p.m. or 7:30 p.m. to put my kids to sleep. I think both the challenging and fun part of the job is the fact that there is a lot of variety on both a weekly and daily basis. No two days are the same, but that’s also the thrill of a position.“Being able to be flexible and adaptable and really kind of take things as they come — that was actually probably one of my biggest learnings over the course of the first year,” Berry said.Nick Cammett/Getty ImagesHow do you try to balance work with raising your young children?I just think it’s really prioritizing. At the end of the day, nothing will come before my family. In these jobs, to truly call it balance maybe isn’t necessarily the aiming point, but making sure that you prioritize the things that are really important in both phases. And also realizing that with the demands of family first and then a job that’s pretty much 24/7, it does mean sacrifices in other areas of leisure and hobbies, which is fine. But raising a family is probably the most rewarding experience of my life. And then, being a general manager for an N.F.L. team is right up there.You’re the youngest general manager in N.F.L. history, and only four of your peers in the league are Black. Do you feel any added pressure?In terms of pressure, I don’t focus much on that. These jobs, they’re stressful, and there’s enough things to deal with without putting an additional stress or pressure on yourself. I just try to be myself. I guess, in terms of the idea of diversity. I think that, by and large, if you have people from different backgrounds and, probably even just as importantly, different experiences in different ways of thinking, I think it enhances the league. It’s good because then you see different — and sometimes better and more creative — solutions to solving different problems, and in the general manager’s case, it’s putting together a team.Many people say the way to bring more diverse candidates is to give them more exposure and opportunities. How have you seen that play out in your career?I do think it’s exposure to different decision makers. I feel very fortunate that I had a number of my bosses throughout my career, whether it was [former General Manager] Ryan Grigson in Indianapolis that gave me exposure to the ownership group in Indianapolis or [Eagles General Manager] Howie Roseman in Philly who gave me exposure to the ownership group there. Or [former Browns General Manager] Sashi Brown, who really gave me exposure to the Haslam family here during my first go-round. I think having people, whether it’s in the league office or within your current club, that are willing to be mentors for your career and allow people who do or will make those hiring decisions gain familiarity with candidates, both on a personal and professional level — I think that can only enhance the process.You haven’t dealt with vaccine headlines like other teams have. What did you do to get players to either get comfortable to be vaccinated or to not be outspoken about their disapproval of it?I guess it’s really two things. I think No. 1, we did our best to educate not just our players, but everyone across the organization, in terms of the health and safety benefits of getting vaccinated, as well as the benefits that the league offers for vaccinated individuals versus nonvaccinated individuals. I think the second thing is, we also didn’t want it to be an issue that would divide our team. The spring and training camp, that’s supposed to be a unifying experience as a team, and as much as we realized that whether or not to get the vaccine can be politicized where people can have strong opinions on those sides, that’s not something that we wanted to tear our group apart. But we really did our best to try and educate as well as possible. And we started very, very, very early in the spring.Cleveland Browns defensive end Cameron Malveaux and offensive tackle Chris Hubbard wearing masks in November 2020.Phelan M. Ebenhack/Associated PressQuarterback Baker Mayfield and wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. didn’t seem to be as efficient as people expected last season before Beckham got hurt. Do you expect that they’ll improve this season now that Beckham is healthy?I think they already have a very good rapport. I think part of the challenge last year is you’re putting in a whole new system with a number of different individuals. I think our passing game in general really took off probably around the midpoint of the season. I think just part of that is just time on task, right? Where guys are getting to the point where they truly understand the offense, and it’s a lot more instinctive in terms of how they operate with them. You work with the offensive scheme, as opposed to them having to think about the concept or think about how they’re going to execute it. And I think that comes with a little bit more natural synergy, and unfortunately, we didn’t have Odell for that stretch. But we feel really good about Baker’s rapport with him, as well as all of our other receivers.How does Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen’s contract extension affect your negotiations with Mayfield’s representation on a new deal?I really don’t talk about contracts or personal situations, but we’re aware of all the contracts across all positional markets and how they may affect a certain situation and how that applies to any of our individual players.What’s the biggest thing you learned on the job in your first year that will prepare you going forward?I don’t know that I truly know that much more on what to expect. But I actually think that’s been the biggest thing. I think that the amount of unexpected things that come up over the course of the year and, particularly, crisis management or making decisions in an uncertain environment is huge. I think the biggest thing is maintaining a greater level of flexibility. You can try and plan out the weeks, the months, the days or different situations, but no two days are alike. Being able to be flexible and adaptable and really kind of take things as they come — that was actually probably one of my biggest learnings over the course of the first year and really having the mind-set of really just being a problem-solver every day. More

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      N.F.L. to Crack Down on Taunting This Season

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      The league’s competition committee said that acts of baiting had gotten out of hand.The N.F.L. announced on Tuesday that as part of its stated commitment to “protecting players from unnecessary risk, while keeping the game fair, competitive and exciting,” it would implement new rules and emphasize others for the betterment of the game.Chief among its priorities for the coming season: disciplining players for hits targeting an opponent’s head, a Covid-19-related relaxing of rules around how long injured players are ineligible and making sure that players do not tease each other too much.Making it a point of emphasis, the league told officials to strictly enforce taunting rules, which include automatic ejection of players who accrue two taunting penalties in a game. The player may also be fined or suspended, or both, depending on the severity of his transgression.“The N.F.L. Players Association, coaches and competition committee have all made a strong statement regarding respect among everyone on the field,” the league said on Tuesday in its annual rule changes and points of emphasis video. “We saw an increase in actions that clearly are not within the spirit and intent of this rule and not representative of the respect to opponents and others on the field.”The renewed effort to enforce taunting rules will target “baiting or taunting acts or words” and “abusive, threatening or insulting language or gestures” toward players, coaches and game officials, as defined by the N.F.L.’s unsportsmanlike conduct rules.Taunting between Bears receiver Javon Wims and Saints cornerback Chauncey Gardner-Johnson led to a skirmish between the teams last season.Nam Y. Huh/Associated PressBut the broad and subjective definition of taunting could mean a crackdown on some of the game’s most spontaneous and entertaining displays of personality, which could include gestures that have become trademarks for some players.In one of the most memorable moments of the last Super Bowl, Tampa Bay safety Antoine Winfield Jr. thrust a peace sign into the face of Chiefs receiver Tyreek Hill, mocking Hill’s usual touchdown celebration. Winfield was flagged for taunting and fined $7,815 for the gesture, a fraction of the maximum, $15,450, that can be levied against a player by the league, depending on the severity of his action.Hill was not penalized for having flashed the peace sign at Winfield on the way to the end zone in a Week 12 game, the play that prompted his Super Bowl revenge.Some notable instances of taunting last season, however, spilled beyond a play or two. The Ravens were flagged for taunting in their wild-card playoff win against the Titans after members of the defense celebrated a fourth-quarter interception by stamping on the Titans’ logo. Baltimore cornerback Marcus Peters, who pulled in the interception, was fined $15,000.Peters and the Ravens were retaliating for an incident before a game in Week 11 in which Malcolm Butler and other Titans players gathered on the Ravens’ logo, sparking a confrontation with Baltimore players and Coach John Harbaugh. Tennessee was not penalized for taunting.In Week 8, Bears receiver Javon Wims was ejected from a game, and later suspended, for punching Saints defensive back Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, leading to a midfield scuffle between the teams that was broken up by officials. Wims said Gardner-Johnson had provoked the fight by spitting on him and ripping out his mouthpiece. No one was flagged for taunting.Tennessee Titans cornerback Malcolm Butler yelled at Baltimore Ravens Coach John Harbaugh before a game in November.Nick Wass/Associated PressTaunting calls result in a 15-yard penalty for the offending team, though flags for gestures like stare-downs or first-down celebrations have dwindled alongside the N.F.L.’s scaling back of rules against excessively celebrating touchdowns, which began in 2017. The league issued 10 penalties for taunting last season and eight in 2019, down from an average of 24 flags each season from 2013 to 2018.This spring, the competition committee sent to all 32 teams its report recommending that the officiating department pay more attention to taunting, reportedly because coaches on the committee felt enforcement had become lax.“Any flagrant acts or remarks that deride, mock, bait or embarrass an opponent are considered taunting,” the report said.Under the league’s new plan, that means no spiking or spinning the ball, pointing the ball or a finger, verbal taunting, or standing or stepping over an opponent for too long or in a way that provokes them. Gestures that simulate handcuffs would be considered taunting, as outlined in the report.In the video announcement of the change, released on Tuesday, the N.F.L. used as an example a clip of Colts receiver Parris Campbell flexing in Myles Jack’s face after taking a hit from the Jaguars linebacker in a game last season, for which Campbell was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct. It also included Browns receiver Jarvis Landry spiking the ball near a Texans defender after a first down in a 2020 game. Landry was called for taunting. More

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      N.F.L. Vaccine Holdouts Face Training Camp Scrutiny

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      Though 88.5 percent of all N.F.L. players had received at least one vaccine dose through Friday, some players voiced their hesitance to be inoculated.When asked by reporters Tuesday if he had received the Covid-19 vaccine, Indianapolis Colts defensive lineman DeForest Buckner nodded his head and smiled.“Yes, sir, fully vaccinated,” Buckner said.When asked the same question, his teammate, wide receiver T.Y. Hilton, declined to clearly answer, glancing downward, his response slightly muffled by the mask covering his expression.“It’s a personal decision,” Hilton said, “so let’s just leave it at that.”On Monday, Frank Reich, the Colts’ vaccinated head coach, tested positive in a so-called breakthrough infection. He was asymptomatic, but participated in the start of training camp remotely, Chris Ballard, the team’s general manager, said.As the first week of N.F.L. training camps concluded amid the backdrop of the Delta variant fueling an alarming spike in coronavirus cases nationally, the dichotomy within the Colts’ locker room reflected the discussion among N.F.L. players regarding the vaccine, even as the league offered more education and levied harsher penalties on the unvaccinated.As of Friday morning, 88.5 percent of all players had received at least one vaccine dose, according to an N.F.L. spokesman, a more than 8 percent jump from last week. Twenty of the 32 teams have more than 90 percent of their rosters vaccinated, while two teams, the Colts and the Washington Football Team, have vaccination rates below 70 percent.With training camps open, players can now voice their opinions to the broader public, and their actions are more scrutinized with reporters present. Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, the 2019 N.F.L. most valuable player, tested positive for the coronavirus this week, his second infection since November. Protocols will require Jackson to miss at least 10 days if he is unvaccinated.Arizona Cardinals wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins and Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Leonard Fournette voiced their hesitancy about the vaccine in July on social media in posts they’ve since deleted..css-1xzcza9{list-style-type:disc;padding-inline-start:1em;}.css-3btd0c{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:1rem;line-height:1.375rem;color:#333;margin-bottom:0.78125rem;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-3btd0c{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.5rem;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}}.css-3btd0c strong{font-weight:600;}.css-3btd0c em{font-style:italic;}.css-w739ur{margin:0 auto 5px;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.3125rem;color:#121212;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-w739ur{font-family:nyt-cheltenham,georgia,’times new roman’,times,serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.375rem;line-height:1.625rem;}@media (min-width:740px){#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-w739ur{font-size:1.6875rem;line-height:1.875rem;}}@media (min-width:740px){.css-w739ur{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.4375rem;}}.css-9s9ecg{margin-bottom:15px;}.css-uf1ume{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-box-pack:justify;-webkit-justify-content:space-between;-ms-flex-pack:justify;justify-content:space-between;}.css-wxi1cx{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-flex-direction:column;-ms-flex-direction:column;flex-direction:column;-webkit-align-self:flex-end;-ms-flex-item-align:end;align-self:flex-end;}.css-12vbvwq{background-color:white;border:1px solid #e2e2e2;width:calc(100% – 40px);max-width:600px;margin:1.5rem auto 1.9rem;padding:15px;box-sizing:border-box;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-12vbvwq{padding:20px;width:100%;}}.css-12vbvwq:focus{outline:1px solid #e2e2e2;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-12vbvwq{border:none;padding:10px 0 0;border-top:2px solid #121212;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-rdoyk0{-webkit-transform:rotate(0deg);-ms-transform:rotate(0deg);transform:rotate(0deg);}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-eb027h{max-height:300px;overflow:hidden;-webkit-transition:none;transition:none;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-5gimkt:after{content:’See more’;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-6mllg9{opacity:1;}.css-qjk116{margin:0 auto;overflow:hidden;}.css-qjk116 strong{font-weight:700;}.css-qjk116 em{font-style:italic;}.css-qjk116 a{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:visited{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:hover{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott declined to reveal his vaccination status to reporters this week, inaccurately claiming that doing so would violate the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA. Buffalo Bills wide receiver Cole Beasley, an outspoken vaccine critic, even crafted an original song regarding his stance.Despite high-profile examples of players with reservations about the vaccine, the leaguewide vaccination rate exceeds that of the United States, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reporting that nearly 70 percent of adults have received at least one dose.The N.F.L. in July issued a memo to all 32 teams outlining steep penalties for those who refuse inoculation. If an unvaccinated player or staff member is found to have caused an outbreak that forces a schedule change, the team experiencing the outbreak will be held financially responsible for the other club’s expenses, the memo said. If the game cannot be rescheduled, the team experiencing the outbreak will forfeit.Washington Coach Ron Rivera, left, wore a mask while talking to Tress Way at Thursday’s practice. Kevin Dietsch/Getty ImagesUnvaccinated players still face several restrictions, including daily testing, capacity limits in weight rooms and a requirement to travel on a separate plane from teammates. The league can also fine them as much as $50,000 for breaking Covid-related protocols. Regardless of the decrees from the N.F.L., individual teams still are encountering some resistance.In June, Washington Coach Ron Rivera addressed his team’s low vaccination rate by inviting Kizzmekia Corbett, an immunologist who helped develop the Moderna vaccine, to speak with players and address their questions.Some remained skeptical, including defensive end Montez Sweat, who said he was “not a fan” of the vaccine. Rivera, who is immune-compromised after battling cancer, said he continues to wear a mask around groups of players to protect himself.“‘I’m truly frustrated,” Rivera said. “I’m beyond frustrated.”The scattered messaging among some of the N.F.L.’s recognizable players may sow further doubt in who that may already be distrustful, said Dr. Sherita Golden, vice president and chief diversity officer at Johns Hopkins Medicine.“I do think they need to lead by example and realize the power of their influence,” she said in an interview Thursday. “Them modeling and getting the vaccine and tweeting about it sends a powerful message.”About 70 percent of N.F.L. players are Black, a racial group that is already suspicious of the vaccine and has limited access to it, and whose members are killed by the virus at a higher rate. Only 41 percent of those who have received the vaccine nationally are people of color, according to the C.D.C. and the Kaiser Family Foundation. The distrust among some N.F.L. players mimics societal trends, Golden said.“We don’t know their experiences growing up or interacting with the health care system,” Golden said. “Just because they are athletes doesn’t mean their lived experience doesn’t have influence, and I think we have to acknowledge that.”.css-1xzcza9{list-style-type:disc;padding-inline-start:1em;}.css-3btd0c{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:1rem;line-height:1.375rem;color:#333;margin-bottom:0.78125rem;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-3btd0c{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.5rem;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}}.css-3btd0c strong{font-weight:600;}.css-3btd0c em{font-style:italic;}.css-w739ur{margin:0 auto 5px;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.3125rem;color:#121212;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-w739ur{font-family:nyt-cheltenham,georgia,’times new roman’,times,serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.375rem;line-height:1.625rem;}@media (min-width:740px){#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-w739ur{font-size:1.6875rem;line-height:1.875rem;}}@media (min-width:740px){.css-w739ur{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.4375rem;}}.css-9s9ecg{margin-bottom:15px;}.css-uf1ume{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-box-pack:justify;-webkit-justify-content:space-between;-ms-flex-pack:justify;justify-content:space-between;}.css-wxi1cx{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-flex-direction:column;-ms-flex-direction:column;flex-direction:column;-webkit-align-self:flex-end;-ms-flex-item-align:end;align-self:flex-end;}.css-12vbvwq{background-color:white;border:1px solid #e2e2e2;width:calc(100% – 40px);max-width:600px;margin:1.5rem auto 1.9rem;padding:15px;box-sizing:border-box;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-12vbvwq{padding:20px;width:100%;}}.css-12vbvwq:focus{outline:1px solid #e2e2e2;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-12vbvwq{border:none;padding:10px 0 0;border-top:2px solid #121212;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-rdoyk0{-webkit-transform:rotate(0deg);-ms-transform:rotate(0deg);transform:rotate(0deg);}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-eb027h{max-height:300px;overflow:hidden;-webkit-transition:none;transition:none;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-5gimkt:after{content:’See more’;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-6mllg9{opacity:1;}.css-qjk116{margin:0 auto;overflow:hidden;}.css-qjk116 strong{font-weight:700;}.css-qjk116 em{font-style:italic;}.css-qjk116 a{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:visited{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:hover{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}The Denver Broncos were one of the first teams in the N.F.L. to vaccinate 85 percent of their players, thanks to a lot of education, discussion and communication, said George Paton, the team’s general manager.Last season, Dr. Michelle Barron, the senior medical director of infection prevention at UCHealth, advised the franchise on Covid-related issues. As the vaccine became widely available this spring, she led informational sessions with the team and privately with players’ families if requested. She also helped coordinate a vaccine clinic in April at the Broncos’ facility. Their vaccination rate did not surprise her, she said.“From the feedback I got, the important thing for them was to feel like they had the information, for them to be able to digest and then come back and ask smart questions,” Barron said in an interview Thursday.As training camp progresses, unvaccinated players battling for roster spots may face challenges. Beasley said in a news conference that unvaccinated young players have told him they fear they may be cut. Ballard, the Colts general manager, said that those decisions are made on a case-by-case basis, but that the question of vaccination did make the process harder, especially for free agents whose unvaccinated status would mean they’d have to be tested more often. Regardless, he said he would try to evaluate fairly.“Whoever wins the job on the field, that’s who’s making the team,” Ballard said. “I’m not going to take a player just because he’s vaccinated that hadn’t won the job. What message are you sending to your locker room?”Players’ decisions on vaccination will probably be exposed over time. The unvaccinated are required to wear a mask when addressing the news media, unless they are outdoors and physically distant — a practice some inoculated players still choose to follow. Some teams, such as the Pittsburgh Steelers, identify unvaccinated players with colored wristbands, a tactic Cleveland Browns center J.C. Tretter, the president of the N.F.L. Players Association, called “nonsensical.” Asked if he was prepared to operate under similar circumstances if needed, Hilton said, “Absolutely.”The stringent new rules, though, seem to have had an effect. Colts running back Nyheim Hines said that he initially did not want to be vaccinated, but that the protocols had changed his mind. He called the shift a “business decision.”Tennessee Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill agreed, saying he would not have received the vaccine otherwise.“They’re trying to force your hand, and they ultimately have forced a lot of hands,” Tannehill said. More

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      Zach Wilson’s Arrival Is Just Enough to Stoke Jets’ Dreams

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      The heralded rookie quarterback’s unsteady training camp debut on Friday came after the death of a Jets assistant coach with whom he’d worked and a prolonged contract negotiation.FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — As Zach Wilson flew on a red-eye flight from California to the East Coast early Thursday morning, he reclined in one of those premier seats that converts into a bed. He got plenty of sleep, he said. More