A second Chicago Bears player chooses to opt out of the 2020 season
First, the Chicago Bears were notified that Eddie Goldman was to opt out of the 2020 season due to health risks surrounding COVID-19, now the team has lost its second player. Yesterday Jordan Lucas notified the team that he was going to opt out of the 2020 NFL season.
Losing Goldman was a huge blow to the Chicago Bears defense, but the team has enough talent to overcome the loss. Jordan Lucas is slotted in as a safety on the roster but was not likely to crack the starting lineup. Instead, he was looked to be more of a special teams standout.
Today is Tuesday. The NFL and NFLPA just announced yesterday that players will have a final deadline of August 6, 2020, to announce plans to opt out of the season or not. We will all have to keep an ear out as many teams around the league have already made that choice, but more are sure to follow. The Chicago Bears will need to hope their depth is enough or look to free agency for more assistance.
As of now, the Patriots have had the most players choose to opt out this year with a total of eight. 10 out of the 32 NFL teams have not had any players choose to opt out this season. The Vikings have lost their new defensive lineman Michael Pierce for the season while the Packers lost new wide receiver, Devin Funchess. Finally, the Lions will be without defensive lineman John Atkins and ex-Packers wide receiver Geronimo Allison.
Jordan Lucas’ reasons for opting out this season
With many players being higher on the BMI scale, it makes sense for some to be concerned as that is one of the factors that make people higher risk. It also seems that some are concerned about not only their health but also the health of their loved ones. Goldman had concerns about his asthma. However, it did not seem like Jordan Lucas was at high risk in anyways. Why did he choose to opt out with his new team then?
During an interview in June, Lucas may have hinted at his reasons why. It seems it had less to do with the fear of any underlying factors, but more to do with a lack of trust of others to take the pandemic seriously. To feel safe, Lucas had this to say:
"“For me? I feel like everyone taking it seriously,” he said. “That’s just around the world, which I know is not gonna happen right now. Because you see people going out, still partying, this and that. It’s a real thing. It’s still killing. It’s still affecting a lot of people.“I’ve been taking it serious as far as the quarantine going, my family has. And I’m just less worried about me, more worried about my son and my wife. So we’re trying to stay as safe as possible.”"
This was in June and as states like Florida, Texas, Arizona and California have seen record-high cases in July, no wonder he chose to stay at home and take his guaranteed money. People are still choosing to do the things that made Lucas feel nervous about the risks of exposing himself and his family.
Whether you personally believe all of the data behind the coronavirus or not, we must respect the decisions each person makes for themselves and their family. We wish Lucas the best of luck and hope he cheers on his new teammates during the 2020 NFL season.