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The NFLPA is not having the best of weeks. After Tom Brady paid acute attention to the NFLPA's workings and delivered a scathing criticism this week, Jimmy Graham lambasted them, saying he feels like he's being punished.
Graham's shot at the NFLPA came just a day after champion quarterback Tom Brady slammed the NLFPA for not negotiating salary caps commensurate with revenue increases of NFL teams.
NFLPA and Jimmy Graham at odds on vaccinated players policy
The beef began when the NFL put various restrictions on unvaccinated players in the league. Among the many provisions in their memorandum, one point stipulates that teams could be made to forfeit games should they be unable to play due to a COVID-19 outbreak among unvaccinated players.
Apart from such team penalties, the NFL also mandated that unvaccinated players should wear masks and take other precautions at all times during practice sessions. Failure to do so could mean a steep fine of $14,650.
Such provisions make it too big a burden for players to remain unvaccinated. Consequently, players such as Jimmy Graham took the vaccine, meaning that they would neither have to abide by such restrictions, nor would they put their teams at risk of forfeiture.
However, the new NFLPA memorandum puts strong testing measures for even those vaccinated due to the propensity of the Delta variant of the coronavirus to spread even among vaccinated players, even if it is with lesser severity.
Jimmy Graham finds new NFLPA memo too onerous
Graham says he finds these provisions too restrictive. Tagging the memorandum from the NLFPA, he wrote, "Was basically forced into getting the vaccine. Now I’m just confused."
He continued in another tweet, "I’ve done everything I’ve been asked and now feel like I’m being punished. If I miss a test that your [sic] proposing everyday I’ll be fined a max 150k! How does this make sense. How’s the punishment 100x worse than last year and I’m vaccinated now?"
He also seemed alarmed at the possibility that testing would occur during off days and during the bye week. However, the NFLPA memorandum clearly rules out that possibility.
It seems Jimmy Graham's latest outburst against the NFLPA is the culmination of a lot of things, including playing a 17-game season this season onwards. He continued, "I'm about to go onto Week 17 playing for free as well. How does that make any sense? Who even petitioned for that? I certainly didn't."
Continuing his talk about the NFLPA, he said, "I’m a grown man, and I wish somebody would speak to me like a grown man and let me have a little bit of say in some things. It’s just a culmination of things.”
We will continue to see the best of Jimmy Graham on the field. While conceding his frustrations, he concluded, “I’m going to go out here and score touchdowns, regardless.”
