NY Giants: 3 looming questions if the 2020 NFL season is cancelled

1. How will player contracts be handled?

The question regarding how contracts will be handled if the 2020 NFL season is officially cancelled will likely be first and foremost on the minds of players, agents, and owners. There are a lot of details that would undoubtedly need to be hammered out by all sides should the season be cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Would the league just act as though 2020 did not occur and just pause contract terms for the duration of the cancellation? For example, James Bradberry recently signed a three-year $45 million contract with the NY Giants. If the 2020 season were to be cancelled, would year one of his contract begin at the beginning of next season or would he be in year two of the contract in 2021 if the 2020 season is cancelled?

Would the franchise tag that the Giants used on Leonard Williams carry over to next season or would the team be forced to negotiate with him as though he were a free agent following the potential cancellation of the 2020 season?

I’m sure the National Football League Players Association is going to want players to get paid even if the season were to be cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Conversely, owners are likely not going to want to pay players when there is not any revenue coming in from ticket sales, concessions sales, or potentially television deals.

Another viable question is whether the guaranteed money that a player receives as part of the contractual agreement is still guaranteed if the NFL season were to be cancelled. Currently, the verbiage protects that guaranteed money if the player is unable to play due to not playing because they were cut due to diminished skill, because of cap space limitations or unable to play due to injury.

There is no clause about not playing due to global pandemic and will likely need to be discussed and agreed upon by both the owners and NFLPA.

In regard to what impacts cancelling the season due to the COVID-19 pandemic would have on contracts in the league, the number of questions is vast and those questions will be complex.

The wide range of effects that could arise from how the contractual agreements would work if the season were to ultimately be cancelled will need to be addressed as soon as possible due to the impact it could have on each franchise.