Multiple star players breakout year have been taken from them, an entire team’s Super Bowl odds seeming to dwindle before their eyes and more injuries than we have ever seen before. This seems to be the new normal of the NFL. 

Over the first three weeks of the 2020-21 NFL season, injuries to players, including a lot of season-ending ones, have risen through the roof, as we’ve seen player after player have their bones or ligaments torn, broken, or sprained. 

 Because of COVID-19, teams had a late start to training camps and practices. The four preseason games to generally start each season were also cancelled due to the late start of preparation for the 2020 season. This could potentially be the reason for all of these injuries. Some may think the NFL rushed the start of the season too early. Less preparation time means less time to prepare their bodies for all of the physicality and heavy-hitting that is experienced in an NFL game.

Some notable players who have had their season ended just three weeks into the season are Giants star running back Saquon Barkley, San Francisco 49ers Defensive end Nick Bosa and Chicago Bears Running back Tarik Cohen, among many other key players for teams looking to make playoff runs. 

“[The NFL is] really standing up for player safety, player safety, player safety,” said San Francisco 49ers cornerback Richard Sherman in an interview with USA Today magazine. “But it seems like player safety has a price tag. Player safety, up to the point of, Hey, 17 games make us this much money, so we don’t really care how safe they are if you’re going to pay us this much money to play another game.”

The NFL is getting plenty of their fair share of heat for this season, and they aren’t helping it go away. In February of 2020, the NFL voted and a 17 game season was approved, one more than the current 16 game schedule. By doing this, from the player’s point of view, they are only doing it to make more money and aren’t worried about the player’s safety or potential risk of injuries right before the playoffs.

Based on all the injuries that have happened during the first three weeks of the NFL season, and more that are likely to come, the NFL should no doubt reconsider their decision to add an extra game onto the season and should start valuing player safety and injury rather than profit and marketing.