The NFL will eliminate some restrictions from its current COVID-19 protocols for players who choose to be vaccinated. 

Among the elements that could be eliminated are the need to participate in daily testing; quarantine periods due to close contact with an infected individual; and/or refraining from social gatherings among other vaccinated individuals.

"It is also anticipated that clubs that achieve a certain rate of vaccination among its tiered staff and players may be permitted to relax restrictions that apply to meetings, meal time and use of locker rooms," the memo said.

NFL Players Association president JC Tretter argued again on Wednesday that the coronavirus-caused elimination of such things as organized team activities (OTAs) and minicamps did more good than harm in 2020.

"The good news for our sport is that while the NFL season looked and felt noticeably different from previous years,'' the Cleveland Browns center posted on the union's website, "we learned that the game of football did not suffer at the expense of protecting its players more than ever before. Our process is to follow the science on what is safest for our guys, and many of the changes this past year -- like no in-person offseason workouts/practices, the extended acclimation period before training camp and no preseason games -- gave us a year of data that demonstrates maintaining some of these changes long term is in the best interest of the game.''

The Seattle Seahawks and Tyler Lockett have agreed to a four-year, $69.2 million extension.

Lockett was entering the final season of a three-year, $31.8 million extension he signed in 2018.

Lockett now ranks 10th in the NFL amongst wide receivers in salary. 

With DK Metcalf a year away from becoming extension eligible, there was no guarantee the Seahawks would allocate significant money for Lockett. 

With an extra week added to the 2021 regular season, Super Bowl LVI will land in the middle Sunday of the Winter Olympics, in Beijing.

NBC will be televising both the Super Bowl and Olympics, meaning the network will carve out a large chunk of that middle Sunday, February 13, for Super Bowl LVI in Los Angeles.

"We have been in constant communication with our partners about this change, and we’re excited for the unprecedented opportunity of presenting the American audience with the two biggest events in media simultaneously," NBC said through a spokesperson.

"We will promote the Super Bowl during the first week of the Winter Olympics, and we’ll promote the second week of the Winter Olympics during the Super Bowl. It’s a win for us, our partners, advertisers, and certainly viewers."

The Seattle Seahawks gave Gabe Jackson a new contract after acquiring him from the Las Vegas Raiders earlier this month, according to sources.

Jackson's new deal is worth $22.575 million over three years.

The Seahawks essentially ripped up the two years that remained on Jackson's contract with the Raiders. He was previously due base salaries of $9.35 million and workout bonuses of $250,000 in each of the next two seasons.

The Las Vegas Raiders have agreed to a three-year contract extension with left tackle Kolton Miller that could be worth up to $68.7 million, according to a source.

The deal puts Miller among the top five highest-paid offensive tackles in terms of average annual value.

The $68.7 million includes the $2.316 million salary from the last year of Miller's rookie deal, a fifth-year option worth $10.88 million, and the three new years on the deal, which can be worth $18.505 million per year if he hits certain incentives. It carries $42.6 million guaranteed at signing.

Colt McCoy has agreed to a one-year deal with the Arizona Cardinals to serve as the backup quarterback to Kyler Murray.

The Cardinals let quarterback Brett Hundley, who backed up Murray in 2019 and was the team's third-string quarterback in 2020, walk in free agency, leaving the team with former CFL quarterback Chris Streveler as Murray's backup.

McCoy has played for four teams in his 11-year NFL career.

Roger Goodell said the NFL's goal and expectation is to play the 2021 season with full stadiums.

“All of us in the NFL want to see every one of our fans back,” Goodell said. “Football is simply not the same without the fans and we expect to have full stadiums in the 2021 season.”

Attendance in 2020 dropped to 1.2 million compared to 16 million in 2019.

The NFL's owners have approved the 17-game regular season beginning in 2021.

The league had the option to extend the regular season once they signed new television deals.

The NFL's owners have wanted to expand the regular season for years.

The Buffalo Bills have announced its home field has been renamed Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield Stadium following a new naming rights deal with the health insurer.

"We are proud to welcome Highmark to the Buffalo Bills family and we are thrilled to partner with them on a new naming rights deal for our stadium," Bills owner Kim Pegula said.

"We are confident that Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield of Western New York is committed to maintaining their status as a healthcare and philanthropic leader in our region. We look forward to many years of working together with their team creating great memories at not only NFL football games but at many other health and wellness events and community celebrations."

This is the fifth name for the venue.

Houston Texans general manager Nick Caserio has weighed in for the first time on the allegations that Deshaun Watson engaged in sexual misconduct with multiple women he hired for massages.

"It's a legal process so we're certainly respectful of that," Caserio said. "We certainly take them very seriously. The allegations, what's been discussed, are certainly troubling. Organizationally that's not something that we can condone, those types of actions. But, again, we'll let the legal process take care of itself."

The last time Caserio spoke publicly about Watson, it was to say the Texans wouldn't grant his trade request. Since then 19 women have filed lawsuits against the quarterback.