Buccaneers Head Coach Bruce Arians Has A Simple Message For Players About Getting Vaccinated

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• Buccaneers’ head coach Bruce Arians shared his thoughts about his players getting the COVID-19 vaccine.
• Some teams around the NFL are struggling to meet a certain threshold number.
• Check out more sports coverage at BroBible here.

With NFL OTA’s and minicamps underway, each team around the league is trying to avoid COVID-19 and attempting to reach the 85 percent threshold of vaccinated players and staff so that they can operate under normal circumstances. Reaching that number is proving to be easier said than done.

Earlier this week, Ron Rivera shared that the Washington Football Team hadn’t yet reached the 50 percent mark and in an attempt to get more of his players vaccinated he was bringing in a “vaccine expert.” Defensive end Montez Sweat wasn’t on board with Rivera’s decision to bring in someone to promote getting the vaccine.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ head coach Bruce Arians is taking a bit of a different approach.

The Bucs are hosting a COVID-19 vaccine drive at the team’s facility for players and their family members. When asked if he was bringing in a specialist to talk to players, Arians joked and said “I’m the specialist” before sharing what his message is to his players about the vaccine.

“If you want to go back to normal, get vaccinated. Eighty-five percent is what we’re shooting for,” Arians explained. “I think everybody’s tired of eating outside and doing all of those things we had to do last year. It’s still a personal choice but I don’t see a reason not to get vaccinated.”

The NFL has mandated coaches to be fully vaccinated to interact with players on the practice field and during the season, but the league and NFL Players Association haven’t agreed to make COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory for players.

Related: Buffalo Bills GM Brandon Beane Says He’d Consider Cutting A Player That Refuses To Get Vaccinated, Calls It An ‘Advantage’