Redskins suspend travel, cancel top-30 visits over coronavirus concerns

The Washington Redskins are taking a proactive stance amid concerns surrounding the coronavirus. They are suspending travel and canceling top-30 draft visits to combat the spread of the disease.

On Wednesday night, the NBA made the unprecedented decision to suspend play amid concerns about the global pandemic of the disease COVID-19. More commonly referred to as the coronavirus, the disease has been rapidly spreading across America in recent weeks, and concern boiled over after Utah Jazz player Rudy Gobert was diagnosed with the virus ahead of a game against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The NHL and MLB and following in the NBA’s path to suspend their respective seasons, and the NCAA may be next as March Madness draws nearer. While the NFL has the luxury of not worrying about games to cancel or postpone, the fallout of the pandemic is starting to impact the league.

One of the first teams to take steps toward combatting the spread of the illness is the Washington Redskins. In an official statement released by Redskins owner Dan Snyder, he confirmed that the team would be suspending travel and called the health and safety of the team’s staff the “No. 1 priority.”

"Due to health and travel concerns surrounding COVID-19 we have informed all of our scouts and coaches that they must return to their home bases and travel will be suspended until further notice. The health and safety of our staff and players is our number one priority and we feel that these are the necessary precautions given the current circumstances."

And as NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo confirmed on Twitter, the team is also canceling the top-30 visits they had scheduled ahead of the 2020 NFL Draft.

It’s certainly unfortunate that the Redskins have to take these measures, but nobody is going to blame them for playing it safe. Snyder is being smart and doing what he can to prevent the illness from spreading and it seems likely that other organizations will follow suit at some point in the near future.

Ahead of the draft, the Redskins will still be able to watch film on players and meet with them over the phone and potentially through video interviews on a platform like Skype. It’s not quite the same as meeting someone in person, but it certainly will suffice. They’re not going to be at a loss for information on prospects and will still have a chance to learn about some of their top targets. So, it makes sense to cancel the in-person meetings just to make sure that everyone can stay healthy and safe.

We’ll soon see if the NFL makes any other changes as the details surrounding the pandemic continue to unfold. But for the time being, this change by the Redskins makes sense and Snyder is smart for being proactive in changing the team’s travel policy.