Whenever NFL coaches are able to return to their practice facilities, host minicamps and training camps, and get ready for the 2020 season, they won’t just be dealing with the effects of a pandemic that continues unabated. They will also have to deal with the internal effects of a country that has once again been torn apart by police violence against people of color. The death of George Floyd, and the subsequent protests around the country? The feelings will not go away by the time it’s time to suit up and run plays.
When those players walk back into their locker rooms, put their personal knick-knacks back in their lockers, and get ready for practices, they will do so in a world that has been inexorably and irrevocably altered — not only by the coronavirus, but also by deadly racism, and the reaction to that deadly racism all over the world.