Mile High Monday: It’s business as usual for the NFL this week

It’s business as usual for the NFL – as much as possible – even though the coronavirus pandemic is shutting down other sports. NFL free agency begins on Monday with the “legal tampering” period where players are pretty much signed by their new teams. On Wednesday, the new league year will begin on time and that’s when deals in free agency (or trades) become official.

I like the passion that NFL fans have this time of year. Hope springs eternal in the NFL and it’s good to see that we will at least get the free agency period during this interesting time across the nation.

I also like contemplating life and sports when driving around with the top down on my old Jeep TJ – even in March! The following is a result of those trips during the week.

Buckle up, let’s take a ride through my thoughts.

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Tag, You’re It!

To the surprise of no one, the Broncos used the franchise tag on safety Justin Simmons last week. This means that he’s going to get a one-year, fully guaranteed contract worth around $13 million for the 2020 season.

Most importantly, Simmons and the Broncos have until mid-July to get a new long-term contract done. The Broncos should be angling to get a deal done with Simmons at some point near that deadline. Every player they’ve ever placed the franchise tag on has been kept with a long-term deal.

We've placed the franchise tag on S Justin Simmons.

📰 » https://t.co/CTSSTNlnhN pic.twitter.com/GqIfUMAazG

— Denver Broncos (@Broncos) March 13, 2020

Simmons is an important part of the defense and soon he will be compensated as such. Expect him to be one of the – if not the – highest paid safeties in the league when a new contract gets done.

He was the recipient of the biggest “Fangio bump” last year on the Broncos defense. Vic Fangio, in his first season as Broncos head coach, was able to get the best out of Simmons so far and even better play may be on the horizon for the veteran safety.

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No Visits, No Problem

While the NFL is proceeding with business as usual for the most part this offseason, there is one big change to the pre-draft process. NFL prospects usually get to visit a team’s facility before the draft, but that’s not going to be the case this year. The coronavirus is impacting travel and teams are not going to have their usual 30 visits for prospects they’re interested in before the draft.

I think that’s a good thing because these 30 visits were times when players could put on a good face and trick teams in the pre-draft process. Teams will take a look at players during these visits and there may be some questionable character issues that are not taken seriously because a player can trick a team during this visit.

If your favorite NFL team has drafted a high risk player in recent years there’s good chance they did so after being conned on a “30 visit”. Teams tend to ignore sketchy character reports gathered by scouts if a player puts on a good face for decision-makers on a 1-day visit.

— Jim Nagy (@JimNagy_SB) March 13, 2020

It’s an interesting offseason to be sure, but teams might actually make better decisions in the draft if they’re not in the position to get “flim-flammed” by a prospect on one of these visits.

There is too much time put in to the evaluation process by the road scouts. A wise team needs to listen to those reports and not fall in love with a player in a single visit. This year, that’s not going to be a problem for well-run teams.

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Postponing the Draft Likely

The NFL Draft is scheduled for the end of April in Las Vegas, Nev., but with the coronavirus pandemic, we should see a change to that event. Vegas casinos are shutting down in the near future and most people think we may need a month or two to get this virus under control.

The NFL is in the offseason, but the draft is a huge event that has become one of the largest sporting events on the yearly calendar. Last year in Nashville, the draft was able to draw around 600,000 fans to the city for the event. This year, officials were estimating that 750,000 people were going to go to Vegas for the 2020 NFL Draft.

Speaking to a few #NFL team execs this weekend, it was clear that one pertinent reality was keeping the start of the league year and free agency on track: NFL expects it will take MONTHS to get to a better set of circumstances than now. A few weeks will not solve current hurdles.

— Charles Robinson (@CharlesRobinson) March 15, 2020

The most important thing right now is the health and safety of everyone out there. The draft will still happen, just likely at a different time and in a different way from which we’re used to.

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Labor Peace

The NFLPA decided to ratify the new Collective Bargaining Agreement by a vote of 1,019 “yes” votes and 959 “no” votes. There are several new rules that this CBA dictates for the future of the NFL, but none has a larger impact than the 17-game season that is coming in the near future.

NFL owners will have a window from 2021-23 to expand the regular season to 17 games. They should do that as soon as possible, and most expect that to be in the 2022 season. That will be a huge difference for teams as the playoff format is going to change, as well. We should see an expansion of one more team per conference to the NFL playoffs.

What you need to know about the new NFL CBA: Biggest changes and what's new: https://t.co/025yystPKf

— Dan Graziano (@DanGrazianoESPN) March 15, 2020

Things are uncertain right now in the sports world. The NFL is likely to alter their offseason schedule to deal with the coronavirus pandemic. However, they have labor peace for 10 years and that is a relief. The NFL is a golden goose and people can’t get enough of their product. Now, they’ll be sure to keep that product front and center for the next decade.

Was this a good deal for the players? What do you think? Hit me up on social media to let me know.

Follow @CecilLammey