NFL 2020 Season

Normally the NFL regular season runs from September through to December every year followed by the playoffs and then ultimately the Super Bowl in February.

It was feared that a certain virus would try to make a mess of the schedules, and for a while, it looked as it would with all the preseason games being canceled along with any planned international games. However, due to some great planning and protection bubbles the season kicked-off on-time albeit without the crowds that you would expect to see filling the stadia (some games had a heavily reduced attendance or no fans at all).

There were also some rule changes that have been brought in on a tempoary basis for 2020.

• A player who is on injured reserve is now allowed to return after missing just three games, this is down from eight.
• Teams are allowed to return an unlimited number of players from the injured reserve throughout the year, instead of three.
• Practice squads have increased from 12 players to 16.
• After 4:00 p.m. ET on the Tuesday of a game week, a team is able to designate a max of four practice squad players to be "protected," this means that they are not allowed to sign for another team until after their current team plays its next scheduled game.
• The NFL has created a reserve/COVID-19 list, for players that have either tested positive for COVID-19 or may have been exposed to someone who has. The player remains on the list until he has been cleared to play.
• All players and key employees will test daily for COVID-19 except on game days.
• A player who is featured on a team's Week 1 roster earns an accrued season toward free agency provided he is on a full-pay status for at least one regular-season game, this is reduced from the normal season minimum of six.