2020 has been an odd year all around, yet, we’ve always held hope that the NFL is going to be the same as usual.
If a full season even occurs – which I believe is extremely unlikely – the NFL is still going to look completely different.
With the National Football League unable to enter a bubble like the NBA, the season may look a lot more like the MLB season in which many players have already tested positive for COVID-19.
The quarterback position is the most important position in football and many times teams look for quarterbacks that aren’t injury prone and can stay on the field.
This year with COVID-19 however, there are no guarantees that quarterbacks will be able to stay on the field consistently.
Players can take measures to avoid getting the virus but there is no guarantee that even if they socially distance and rarely go out that they can stay virus free.
Take a player like Russell Wilson for example. In his eight years in the league he hasn’t missed a single game due to injury. This may be one of the main reasons why Seattle hasn’t invested much into a quality backup quarterback.
The team relies extremely heavily on Wilson and if he were to get the virus, which is somewhat out of his control, the team would be depending on Geno Smith and Anthony Gordon to win them games.
A good backup quarterback is going to be more important than ever this year, especially for teams that are set to be contenders.
Draft picks like Jordan Love to the Packers at 26 and Jalen Hurts to the Eagles at 53 may not look as bad because they provides the Packers and Eagles, two contending teams, great options should Wentz or Rodgers be out due to the virus.
Other teams that will be better prepared than others will be the Cowboys (Andy Dalton), Saints (Jameis Winston), Colts (Jacoby Brissett), and the Raiders (Marcus Mariota).
Some contendings team that may be in the wrong hands if their quarterback were to come down with the virus would be the Seahawks (Geno Smith), Bills (Matt Barkley), Bucs (Blaine Gabbert), and the Vikings (Kyle Sloter).
While the virus may only cause two to three weeks of playing time to be missed before they are allowed to come back the virus may cause other complications.
Von Miller recently got the virus and dropped 15 pounds. He mentioned that it took him about three weeks after the virus was out of his system for him to be 100%.
Even if these kind of symptoms after contracting the virus don’t affect every player those three games during the season can be massive.
A three game difference was the only difference between a quality team like the 2019 Houston Texans and a mediocre and uninspiring team like the 2019 NY Jets.
In what is already shaping up to be a crazy 2020 NFL season, the craziest thing of all may just end up being us seeing multiple backup quarterbacks decide the fate of our favorite NFL teams.
Image: USA TODAY Sports
