so when preseason games begin in a few weeks, it ll be obvious. we ll see who is or isn t vaccinated. i think as players begin to get their brains around that. they ll realize that everyone can see they chose not to be vaccinated and after yesterday s memo, everyone can see these are the guys putting the team at risk of a forfeit during the season. just another a little bit of pressure to get the players to choose to do what the league and union believe they should do, get the vaccine. doesn t the nfl run into some risky ground here with players who don t want to do it. deandre hopkins, from the arizona cardinals, tweeted yesterday, i never thought i d say this, but being put in a position to hurt my team because i don t want to take a vaccine is making my future in the nfl. he s clearly suggesting that he doesn t want to be vaccinated or at least is reluctant to do so.
paralymin tearian making a decision where it goes from there we ll see in the next 30 to 35 days. allye a mendez, thank you very much. and eugene robinson, thank you. coming up, fines, even forfeits, the nfl issues harsh new penalties hoping players get vaccinated. plus ron desantis stressed coronavirus vaccines earlier this week so why is his state fighting a new law that keeps cruise lines from requiring proof of vaccination? more on the politics of the pandemic next on morning joe. pandemic next on morning joe. [relaxed summer themed music playing]
that s the nfl s attitude, if you don t want to play, don t play. we ll find somebody else. in deandre hopkin s case if he were to retire this, he would owe his team $22 million over what he was paid already. when you come back in a couple months we ll talk about the new york giants march to a title. his new book play makers is available for preorder next week. mika. we re joined by contributor mike barnicle. and mike we still have max boot with us. and i believe you have a question for him. i have sort of a question for him for you, max, and the question is posed with this start. this is madness. we have listened now for 20 minutes about people refusing to get a vaccine for a
players or staff that s when the forfeit happens. an outbreak among vaccinated players and staff, no forfeit. so another way to try to squeeze players to try to choose to get vaccinated. this has been really the biggest play yet by the league to get the attention of the players who are still hesitant. as you say, nothing gets the players attention more than a loss perhaps missing the playoffs because your team had to forfeit a game due to a covid outbreak. it does raise the question, how is the nfl going to monitor this? how do they know who s vaccinated or not? they ll require from day one, when players show up, the teams must identify players who have been vaccinated so the ones who haven t been vaccinated will stand out. we reported last week the league and union are working on a system for allowing vaccinated players to be identified during practices in games.
thank you so much. sports leagues working on getting people vaccinated as well. the nfl added a new layer yesterday which includes threatening teams with losses. joining us now mike florio. mike, it s great to see you, especially in the off season here. so explain a little bit yesterday this letter from the nfl to the teams, which will certainly snap many of them to attention in terms of getting their players vaccinated. absolutely, willie. this is just the next step in what has been a long process by the league and the nfl players association which represents all players in the league, to persuade players to get the vaccination. it s not mandated. they ve been creating incentives, and yesterday s news the strongest disincentive yet to remain unvaccinated because the forfeits will flow from an outbreak among unvaccinated