NFL News and Notes: League Allows Team Facilities To Start To Open

While most major sports are still on hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic, it appears that the NFL is inching closer to preparing for their upcoming season. Given that they are currently in their offseason, the NFL is somewhat at an advantage; however, the clock is ticking as the season approaches.
Next week, though, Phase 1 of the NFL’s plan to reopen will begin, and on Tuesday, there will be the option to open team facilities. Despite the fact that facilities are opening, two groups will not be able to return quite yet: coaches and players who are not currently rehabbing from injuries.
In terms of the coaches, it appears the thinking is that the NFL knows that not all teams will be able to reopen, given the different stay-at-home orders from state to state. Thus, by making sure that no coaches can return until all can, it will hopefully not give a team a competitive advantage.
While this is a good sign as the NFL tries to return on time and not have to delay their games (albeit games that will not have any fans), there has been other news from around the league as well. Let’s take a look at some of the bigger news stories from the last week.
Oliver Arrested
The Bills received some unwelcome news this last week as their defensive lineman, Ed Oliver, was arrested for both driving while intoxicated and having a pistol in his car.
It will be interesting to see how this proceeds as it may leave his availability for the beginning of the season (if he is suspended) in question as well as could have major implications on his contract (a suspension could lead to a loss in guaranteed money in his contract).
Last year, as a rookie, Oliver played in all 16 games, amassing 43 tackles, five sacks, and a forced fumble. Many believe that this upcoming season could have been an even bigger year for him as he could have been a major foundation of the Bills’ defense.
Tagovailoa Has Rookie Contract Finalized
Thus far, two first-round picks have officially finalized their deals, and Tua Tagovailoa is one of them (the Carolina Panthers’ Derrick Brown is the other). This week, not only did Tagovailoa agree to his rookie deal, but it also has offset language in it.
Simply put, the offset language allows the Dolphins in this case to only be on the hook for the difference of his contract and a potential new contract if he were to be cut and picked up by another team. While most teams push to get this language into the contract, the Dolphins are hoping that it never comes to that.
Despite the concerns with his hip injury, Miami is looking at Tagovailoa as their franchise quarterback for the foreseeable future. His rookie deal is for four years and just a little over $30 million.
If he can return to health, the Dolphins may have gotten a steal despite taking him at fifth overall. Before his hip injury his senior year, many expected that he could go first overall. Even with the injury-shortened season his junior year at Alabama, he still threw for 2,840 yards, 33 touchdowns and three interceptions in just nine games.