Eagles coaches to report around July 10 and will quarantine; rookies, select vets, QBs to report July 22
The team will use both NovaCare and the Linc as it complies with pandemic protocols for training camp.
Eagles coaches will make their way back to the area “on or around” July 10, a source close to the situation said Thursday, then will observe a 10-day quarantine at their respective homes before they start work at the NovaCare Complex on July 20. ESPN has reported they will undergo coronavirus testing July 17.
On July 22, rookies, quarterbacks, and select veterans will report for training camp. The rest of the 90-member roster is due to return on July 28. “Select” veterans are mostly those returning from injury.
The NFL closed practice facilities to coaches and healthy players in late March because of the coronavirus pandemic. In early June, commissioner Roger Goodell allowed for the return of coaches, when permissible under local guidelines. The Eagles opted to keep coaches working from home until closer to training camp, when everyone could return more or less together.
Eagles coach Doug Pederson has said the team will make use of both NovaCare and Lincoln Financial Field, as it complies with extensive coronavirus protocols mandated by the league and the players’ association. The team will hold meetings at the Linc but practice at NovaCare, which has several fields, instead of the one playing field at the stadium, ESPN reported.
The nine-page memo the league issued last month outlining the protocols dictates that “meetings must be conducted virtually to the extent possible,” and when in-person meetings are necessary, “clubs must make efforts to hold [them] outdoors with participants sitting apart from one another and wearing masks. In-person meetings that do not permit physical distancing are prohibited.”
People allowed in areas used by players and coaches are to be divided into three tiers. Tier 1 includes players, coaches, and the people who absolutely need to be near them — medical staff and trainers, for instance. Tier 2 includes “other essential personnel who may need to be in close proximity to players,” including “ownership representatives” and “general managers.” Tier 2 is limited to 20 people, who “should minimize any necessary time spent in restricted areas” and must wear personal protective equipment.
Tier 3 includes the people who clean the facilities, in-house media, and people who take care of the practice fields — but they are only permitted to access restricted areas “when Tier 1 individuals are not present.” A footnote to Tier 3 allows “pool media” to have distanced access to practice and playing fields.
So far, the Eagles have signed only one of their 2020 draftees, sixth-round Auburn offensive tackle Prince Tega Wanogho. A source close to the situation has said the delay on the other nine has to do with getting the draftees to Philadelphia for physicals, which must take place before they can sign.