There are less than two months to go before the start of the 2021 NFL season.
Every player in the league is facing a major decision.
And this pro football legend had this controversial take on the coronavirus vaccine.
Three-time Super Bowl champion and pro football Hall of Famer Michael Irvin took a strong stand on NFL players getting vaccinated.
Irvin told a conference that players refusing to get the coronavirus vaccine don’t care about winning a Super Bowl.
“Dude, you’re not thinking right. You’re not thinking right. Whatever you got, I don’t give a damn,” Irvin declared. “Nothing else can be more important. You’re not going to get this [winning a Super Bowl] easily. Nothing else could be more important. […] Jimmy [Johnson] made that abundantly clear [during Irvin’s playing career]. Nothing else is more important. And not being one of the [85 percent of vaccinated teams] says there are other things to a great number of people on this team that are more important than winning championships, and that makes me worried.”
Irvin stated that players in the locker room needed to organize a pressure campaign on unvaccinated players to “get the jab.”
“If you’re not one of them teams [at the threshold], are you really thinking about winning a championship? You see what I’m saying,” Irvin added. “OK, so now if you’re not getting vaccinated and you got all these other teams that are getting vaccinated . . . Somebody in that damn locker room [should say], ‘Hey man, we’re going to have a chance, are you vaccinated?’” Irvin said. “Let’s go through this because this could be a two-week healthy dude missing games, and in this league, this ain’t the NBA. In this league that could be it for you. The right person misses two weeks, that’s it. Your ass is out.”
The NFL is not mandating players take the vaccine.
Taking the vaccine is a personal choice, and not every player will choose to do so.
Getting the vaccine does not eliminate the possibility of contracting the coronavirus, although it does decrease the chances of serious illness or hospitalization.
There are already 61 cases of coronavirus in the Olympic Village including many fully vaccinated athletes contracting the disease.
There are also NFL players who already contracted the coronavirus and recovered, leaving them with natural immunity.
Pro football players are like everyone else – they shouldn’t be forced to take an experimental shot, and instead should consult with the doctors, assess their medical situation, and make their own decision.
Sports with Balls will keep you up-to-date on any new developments in this ongoing story.
