2020 NFL season

2020 NFL season

The 2020 NFL season is the 101st season of the National Football League. The regular season started with the NFL Kickoff Game on September 10, with defending Super Bowl LIV champion Kansas City defeating Houston. The season is scheduled to conclude with Super Bowl LV, the league’s championship game at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida on February 7, 2021. This is the first season with a 14-team playoff format, adding a third wild card team for each conference, and awarding each conference’s top seed a first round bye.

About 2020 NFL season in brief

Summary 2020 NFL seasonThe 2020 NFL season is the 101st season of the National Football League. The regular season started with the NFL Kickoff Game on September 10, with defending Super Bowl LIV champion Kansas City defeating Houston. The season is scheduled to conclude with Super Bowl LV, the league’s championship game at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida on February 7, 2021. This is the first season with a 14-team playoff format, adding a third wild card team for each conference, and only awarding each conference’s top seed a first round bye. The Oakland Raiders became the Las Vegas Raiders following their relocation to the Vegas area, becoming the first NFL team based in the state of Nevada. The Washington Redskins, following the decades-long controversy regarding their name and logo, retired both in the offseason and became the Washington Football Team until a permanent name is chosen after the season. The Draft took place on April 23–25, via videoconferencing; it was originally scheduled to take place in Paradise, Nevada, but was moved due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The most prominent changes were the cancellation of all preseason games and the 2021 Pro Bowl, the suspension of international games for the year, an allowance for players to opt out of playing the season without violating their contracts, the playing of games with either a greatly reduced audience or no fans at all, and the postponement of multiple games due to multiple cases among players and staff. A total of 66 players opted out by the August 6 deadline.

New England had eight players opt out, the most in the NFL; Atlanta, the Los Angeles Chargers, and Pittsburgh had no players optout. Players who opted out were not paid for the 2020 season, but received a salary advance of USD 350,000 for medical opt outs and USD 150,000 in voluntary opt outs. Referee Walt Anderson was promoted to NFL senior vice president in charge of the officiating training and development program, a newly created position that works independently from the NFL’s head of officiating, Alberto Riveron. The NFL and the NFL Referees Association agreed on August 9 to allow officials who opt out to return for the 2021 season. Five officials – back judge Jeff Bergman, field judge Steve Freeman, back judge Joe Larrew, fieldJudge Joe Steratore, and back judge Tony Steratatore – opted out for the August 13 deadline. The following rule changes were approved at the NFL Owners’ Meeting in May: The following temporary rule changes will only be in place for 2020 and possibly 2021 if CO VID-19 protocols remain in place in September and August. The 2018 NFL League year and trading period began on March 18. On March 16, clubs were allowed to contact and begin contract negotiations with the agents of players who were set to become unrestricted free agents. Notable players to change teams included: The following notable trades were made during the 2020 league year: Teams were required to be under the salary cap using the \”top 51\” definition.