Cardinals allow only ‘critical personnel’ at offices, suspend travel
Mar 13, 2020, 11:51 AM | Updated: 2:54 pm
Quarterback Kyler Murray #1 of the Arizona Cardinals practices alongside head coach Kliff Kingsbury during team OTA's at the Dignity Health Arizona Cardinals Training Center on May 29, 2019 in Tempe, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
(Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
The Arizona Cardinals will close their facility at noon Friday and restrict entry with “very limited exceptions for operationally critical personnel” starting Monday.
The rest of the staff, which regularly works at the team’s Tempe office, will conduct business from home through the rest of March. The Cardinals will reevaluate that policy heading into April.
New protocols were put in place to prevent any spread of coronavirus.
“To be clear, we have no knowledge of a single positive test for the coronavirus within the organization,” the team said in a statement. “These latest measures are taken purely as a matter of precaution and have been recommended to slow the spread of the virus within our community. As always, the health and well-being of all employees and their families is our top priority.”
Additionally, the Cardinals suspended all non-essential travel for employees, including coaches and scouts. Shortly thereafter, the NFL indefinitely canceled all college draft prospect visits to team facilities or team visits to their schools. Teams and prospects are restricted to “only online communication,” according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Here is that memo.
Here’s the NFL memo. Teams can still do phone and video chats with draft prospects. pic.twitter.com/mVM4j92kjt
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) March 13, 2020
Several NFL teams individually put together plans to protect their facilities prior to the league-wide mandate.
The restrictions on draft prospect meetings will limit how teams host the maximum allowed 30 draft prospects, at least in terms of scheduling.
According to reports, the NFL has not discussed changing the dates for the draft (April 23-25), a Monday franchise/transition tag deadline or the new league year start date on Wednesday. League meetings in Florida next month have been pushed back, however.
In Arizona, the Cardinals called the situation “very fluid” and reiterated that the health of their employees was the top priority.
“As the coronavirus situation continues to develop, we continue to adjust our business practices accordingly based on the most current information and recommendations from experts in the medical community,” the team said in a statement.
