NY Giants latest NFL team to decide not to attend voluntary workouts

The NY Giants, via a statement released by the NFLPA Thursday, were the latest NFL team to opt against attending voluntary in-person offseason workouts this spring.

As COVID-19 remains a real concern, several teams across the league, including the Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Denver Broncos, Seattle Seahawks, Detroit Lions, New England Patriots, and others have decide to exercise their right now to attend the in-person workouts.

Below is the NY Giants’ statement, via the NFLPA:

"“Our team is a strong, united brotherhood of professionals who love the game of football and work year-round to perfect our craft. We also have to make the best decisions to protect our health and safety, which is why players on our team are exercising our CBA right to not attend in-person voluntary workouts. We stand in solidarity with players across our league who are making informed decisions with the help of our union, both in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and what the data shows about the benefits to our overall health and safety."

There is a chance that some players could attend the workouts, as the statement does not implicitly say that the entire team would be sitting them out.

The Giants’ decision not to attend in-person workouts, and those around the league, were foretold by an NFL head coach’s concerns expressed to FanSided back in January, over players potentially being reluctant to attend in-person workouts prior to training camp in August, both out of an abundance of caution as well as not being quite ready to return to the NFL’s stringent testing and COVID-19 protocols.

There have now been eight teams, as of Thursday, that have decided against attending in-person workouts this spring.

Matt Lombardo is the site expert for GMenHQ, and writes Between The Hash Marks each Wednesday for FanSided. Follow Matt on Twitter: @MattLombardoNFL