With Tom Brady announcing on Monday that he’ll be staging (and playing in) a Saudi Arabian flag-football tournament featuring current NFL players, an obvious question arose.
Are the teams that currently employ the current NFL players OK with it?
We’ve contacted the various teams whose players were listed in the release: Eagles running back Saquon Barkley, Cowboys receiver CeeDee Lamb, 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey, Jets cornerback Sauce Gardner, Browns defensive end Myles Garrett, Raiders tight end Brock Bowers, Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby, and Dolphins receiver Tyreek Hill.
The Cowboys have responded by acknowledging that they have given permission to Lamb. The 49ers and Eagles are looking into the issue. The Jets had no comment. The Dolphins, citing the short-week game at Buffalo, had no response. And the Browns simply didn’t respond.
The Standard Player Contract allows teams to prevent players from playing football elsewhere. It also gives teams the ability to secure a court order preventing the player from participating in other forms of football.
The NFL has said that Brady’s Saudi Arabian flag-football tournament is not an NFL initiative. The league also said it’s up to the teams to decide whether to allow their players to participate.
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