Atlanta Falcons head coach Dan Quinn is considering inviting the Buffalo Bills or Miami Dolphins for joint workouts this summer.
Georgia was one of the first states to relax social distancing and isolation measures related to the coronavirus pandemic. While training camp and the preseason are not guaranteed to begin without COVID-19 delays, Quinn said the talks are in the planning stages. Buffalo is the second team on the preseason schedule in August, with Miami up first.
“As far as the timing regarding doing some scrimmaging [with] some other teams, the two teams that we spoke to way back in the offseason were Miami and Buffalo,” Quinn said. “And so if those guidelines are in place that we’re able to, we will. And then obviously if they’re not, we won’t.”
Giants head coach Joe Judge, in his first season in New York, said the franchise is investigating leaving the area for training camp. The coronavirus pandemic has hit New York City hard, and New York state leads the nation in the number of coronavirus cases with nearly 340,000. New Jersey, where the Giants train, is second in the nation with more than 140,000 COVID-19 patients.
The Bills are scheduled to host the Falcons in a preseason game between Aug. 20-24. Atlanta is scheduled to host the Dolphins the week prior. All schedules for preseason games are tentative.
But Quinn said he is embracing the positive of what the Falcons can and will do, regardless of evolving plans and restrictions for the upcoming season.
“A lot of people have been talking about what we don’t know or what we’re not able to do,” Quinn said. “But I’d like to start today with just the opposite and fill you in or what we do know and what we have started doing. The virtual offseason program, we’ve had three weeks that we’ve met with the veterans. This past weekend, we actually had our rookie minicamp — virtual, some on Microsoft teams, some on Zoom … this week will be a week totally devoted to the rookies. The veterans have off this week from the virtual program. And then, beginning May 18, we’ll put everybody together as one group.”
