When the COVID pandemic began to spread throughout the United States in March and sports leagues around the world came to a screeching halt, it seemed to be a common assumption that the virus would run its course in time for the NFL to carry on as regularly scheduled programming in the fall.

To put it simply, they had the benefit of time, but as the time keeps ticking down, will the NFL have enough answers or solutions to keep the season going amid positive tests throughout their season?

As national shutdowns began, the NFL’s draft went completely virtual and leagues began looking at how they could bring professional sports back to some form of normalcy, and every league had their own answer. European soccer leagues, the Korean baseball league and the UFC began returning with no fans in attendance, while the NBA created a “bubble” in Orlando and the NHL established two hub cities to effectively quarantine teams and house each conference.

Photo by: Getty Images

Then Major League Baseball rolled out what would be the most functionally similar plan of action when compared to the NFL, allowing teams to continue playing in their own home stadiums while regularly testing their players and traveling city to city and state to state to carry on their season.

Positive tests during the season were expected and guidelines were drawn up as players like the Rays’ Austin Meadows and the Yankees’ Aroldis Chapman had their season debuts delayed due to positive COVID tests, while the Nationals’ Juan Soto became the MLB’s first positive test on a scheduled gameday last Thursday.

Even in a shortened season that MLB has started, if a player here and there tested positive and were forced to quarantine and miss time, it has appeared to be seen as a necessary sacrifice to keep the sport moving under the assumption that young and healthy players (likely) wouldn’t face lingering or life-threatening effects from the virus.

Should the players feel as though the risk to themselves or others inside their inner circle was too great, the NFL provided an opt-out option that several players have already chosen.

But the question, and every league’s single-greatest hurdle, remained in my mind, what happens when it isn’t just a player here and there? What happens when the virus runs through a locker room, infecting multiple starters and coaches?

What about when these potentially effected starters aren’t merely roleplayers or backups, but are superstars or players brought in with the expectation of elevating a franchise? Tom Brady, Mike Evans, Ali Marpet and Rob Gronkowski for example. What about coaches who are immunocompromised or well into that “at-risk age” range like Bruce Arians or Tom Moore?

Bucs head coach Bruce Arians – Zoom call w/Buccaneers

Now we as a nation and the NFL as a league will see a tentative plan in action after eight players and two coaches in the Miami Marlins organization received positive COVID test results on Monday, bringing the team’s total number of infected individuals to 14.

The MLB season carried on as planned for the time being, with the exception of two series that were postponed in response, one between the Orioles and Marlins and one between the Yankees and Phillies after Philadelphia hosted Miami for a three-game series to open their season this past weekend. Both series’ had games scheduled for Monday.

To make matters worse, the Marlins saw four additional positive tests on Tuesday, leading to a temporary suspension of Miami’s season through this upcoming Sunday at the minimum.

By Friday, COVID had become a league-wide problem with more positive tests popping up and multiple scheduled series being postponed.

Positive tests out of the St. Louis Cardinals’ clubhouse following games in Minnesota postponed their series against the Brewers for this weekend, bringing the league total to three postponed games that would impact six teams on Friday, a whopping 20 percent MLB teams that have had their games temporarily suspended.

With much fewer games, much more contact, a vast amount of highly-specified positions and a far greater number of players in a football locker room, would putting one (or more) team’s season temporarily on hold be a viable strategy in the NFL?

These are the questions that still remain, even with professional sports rolling into a return.

Bucs tight end Cam Brate announced on Wednesday that he had tested positive, and recovered from, COVID this past offseason and spoke about his confidence in the NFL playing a full, 16-game season via a virtual press conference with the local media on Thursday.

Cam Brate and Archie – Photo from Buccaneers

“I would say I’m cautiously optimistic about that,” Brate said. “I’m not going to guarantee anything like that or put a number on it. I feel like the NFL has put a lot of stuff in place for the players to protect us with the testing protocols and the way they’ve reconstructed the building.”

Brate continued.

“There’s so many unknowns with the virus and kind of paying attention to what’s going on in baseball with the Marlins, there could be a case like that with an NFL team and I don’t know if an NFL team would be able to play a game if a third of the team tested positive the Thursday or Saturday before a game, I don’t know if that would be possible. I think a lot of the onus is going to fall on the players and coaches to stay responsible outside of the building and try to eliminate exposure to as many people as possible. But I’m optimistic and hopeful that we can play a full 16 games.”

It isn’t out of the realm of possibility to see the MLB set a precedent that could likely be absorbed by the NFL as players begin arriving to their respective training facilities in preparation for the 2020 season and again, it again shows the benefit the NFL has been afforded in time. These scenarios can play out and help develop answers for league officials all before the NFL is forced to miss any actual playing time.

Despite uncertainties remaining, despite players just returning to training facilities in late July, despite the elimination of all preseason games, despite cases still surging in Major League Baseball and in many states, the NFL remains confident in their ability to get their season rolling on time and played in its entirety.

So as the MLB moves forward in the coming days, their perseverance in the face of an outbreak could be both a learning experience for the NFL and a harrowing glimpse into a worst-case scenario when football eventually returns this fall.