Russell Wilson posts video of workout with teammate

[Blitz]

Getty Images

Tom Brady isn’t the only quarterback in the NFL willing to flout the NFLPA’s recommendations against working out with teammates.

Via Gregg Bell of the Tacoma News Tribune, Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson posted a video of a workout with wide receiver D.K. Metcalf.

The video shows the teammates working out with palm trees and cactus in the background. They’re the only players on the field, though at least one person was filming.

Wilson has typically worked out with teammates near his Southern California home in past offseasons. Of course, those workouts came after the team had gone through a full offseason of OTAs and minicamps, things that haven’t happened this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

With positive tests popping up whenever athletes gather, the NFLPA has advised players not to congregate before training camp.

That didn’t stop Wilson, or Brady, who held a workout with a dozen or more Buccaneers teammates Tuesday morning.

“Please be advised that it is our consensus medical opinion that in light of the increase in COVID-19 cases in certain states that no players should be engaged in practicing together in private workouts,” NFLPA medical director Dr. Thom Mayer said in the union’s statement. “Our goal is to have all players and your families as healthy as possible in the coming months.

“We are working on the best mitigation procedures at team facilities for both training camps and the upcoming season, and believe that it is in the best interest of all players that we advise against any voluntary joint practices before training camp commences.”

Of course, it’s possible the workout was from some time before the union’s suggestion and was simply published today. But in the arms-race mindset of competitive athletes, any quarterback who was thinking about being responsible for public health now has two of the highest-profile players in the league telling him it’s not very important.