The Titans already faced a potentially significant punishment for alleged protocol breaches that fueled an outbreak of COVID-19. Given the news that the team apparently gathered to practice last week after expressly being told not to do so, the Titans could be facing a consequence the likes of which the NFL has never seen.
There’s buzz in league circles of possible “historic” punishment for the Titans given the various violations.
“Especially if Troy [Vincent] was the one that told them not to practice,” one league source opined.
Questions also linger regarding what the Titans knew, when they knew it, and when they shared it with the league office or the Vikings, Tennessee’s Week Three opponent.
Some in league circles already think the league is inclined to punish teams for outbreaks, reasoning that the league’s protocols will prevent problems if followed and that, if problems happen, protocols must not have been followed. Throw in the apparently deliberate effort to defy instructions by the league to stand down during an outbreak in order to prevent it from exacerbating, and the NFL could soon make past punishment imposed on the Patriots seem like parking tickets.