Jimmy Graham Says NFL ‘Basically Forced’ Him To Get The Vaccine, Is Confused By New Daily Testing Recommendation

• It appears that Chicago Bears tight end Jimmy Graham didn’t have plans to get vaccinated until the NFL implemented its new rules.
• Graham is now confused as the NFL has essentially flip-flopped on its stance.
• Check out more sports coverage at BroBible here.

With the NFL laying out strict protocols for the unvaccinated, Bears tight end Jimmy Graham says he was “basically forced” into getting the vaccine. Now, with the NFLPA laying out new protocols, he’s confused about the whole situation.

The NFL Players’ Association shared new guidelines it will be proposing to the league surrounding COVID-19 testing on Thursday that completely went against a memo shared by the league just two weeks ago.

If the NFLPA’s recommendations are adopted by the NFL, vaccinated players will now be tested each day they enter the team’s facility. The guidelines note that even vaccinated people can both contract and spread the virus, specifically the Delta variant. The NFLPA statement also suggests that masking may be required regardless of vaccination status in the event of an “apparent virus spread.”

Graham wasn’t pleased with this new update and took to Twitter to voice his frustrations and utter confusion about the entire situation.

The NFLPA’s update states that 2,528 players and 4,549 staff members were tested between July 25 and August 1. Of those 7,077 tests, 65 came back positive. Of those 65 positive cases, 32 were among vaccinated individuals, which is a positive rate of 0.45%.

Graham isn’t the only NFL player that has openly said that the league’s protocols essentially forced them into getting the vaccine. Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill explained that he wasn’t planning on getting the vaccine either until the league’s memo was shared back on July 22.

The NFLPA’s New Guidelines vs. The NFL’s Protocols

The NFL’s memo made it very clear that vaccinated player’s lives will be much easier than unvaccinated players’ lives, especially when it comes to testing. Fully vaccinated players are only obligated to be tested once every 14 days, but now the NFLPA is asking for everyone to be vaccinated every single time they enter their team’s facility.

The league also stated that if a COVID outbreak occurs among unvaccinated players then the team will be forced to forfeit games that are impacted that can not be rescheduled. Both teams, not just the one that suffered the outbreak, would forfeit their paychecks for that missed game as well.