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.''

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 total number of lawsuits filed against Deshaun Watson has reached 14, with 24 total claims now under consideration by lawyer Tony Buzbee's firm.

"Most of the cases allege the same, or similar, conduct," Buzbee said of the civil complaints alleging misconduct during massages by the Houston Texans quarterback.

Watson and his camp have remained silent amid the developments.

Attorney Tony Buzbee claims he has nine clients who have assault claims against Deshaun Watson.

It started with a single assault claim, but in two days the number has skyrocketed.

"The Buzbee Law Firm has now been hired by nine women to bring cases against Deshaun Watson," Buzbee said on social media. "The allegations are similar. We have filed three, and, as we complete our due diligence, will file the remaining ones in due course. We are talking to several others. Cornelia and I appreciate the kind words, and outpouring of support for these brave women who are wiling to come forward and be heard. No matter what you do in life, there will always be detractors. As my dad always said: 'If you are right, go ahead!' And so we go."

The three cases filed to date arise from massages that Watson allegedly tried to make into sexual encounters.

The National Football League announced today that it has signed long-term agreements with media partners Amazon, CBS, ESPN/ABC, FOX, and NBC for the distribution of NFL games, the industry's most valuable content, over television and digital platforms, as well as additional media rights.

According to the Associated Press, the deal is worth $113 billion over 11 years. 

With these agreements, the NFL has expanded its digital footprint to reach a broader audience while maintaining its commitment to keep all NFL games on over-the-air television. The new agreements will begin with the 2023 season and run through the 2033 season.

"These new media deals will provide our fans even greater access to the games they love. We're proud to grow our partnerships with the most innovative media companies in the market," NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said. "Along with our recently completed labor agreement with the NFLPA, these distribution agreements bring an unprecedented era of stability to the League and will permit us to continue to grow and improve our game."

The NFL's new media agreements grant the following rights to their partners:

AMAZON: In the NFL's first ever all-digital package, Amazon Prime Video has acquired the rights to be the exclusive home of Thursday Night Football across hundreds of compatible digital devices. The NFL and Amazon first partnered on Thursday Night Football as part of a Tri-Cast distribution model during the 2017 season.

CBS: With its new multi-platform agreement, CBS retains the rights for the American Football Conference (AFC) package of Sunday afternoon games. All games will be broadcast on the CBS Television Network and streamed live on Paramount+, ViacomCBS' flagship streaming service. CBS, America's most-watched network for the past 12-years, is the NFL's longest-running media partner having first begun televising NFL games in 1956.

ESPN: ESPN will continue to be the NFL's television partner for cable's most-watched series, Monday Night Football. Additionally, ABC has acquired the rights to televise two Super Bowls along with exclusive regular season games. ESPN+ subscribers can stream one International Series game on an exclusive national basis every season and the new agreement allows ESPN the opportunity to simulcast all ABC and ESPN games on ESPN+. The new agreement for ESPN covers 11 years, including a 10-year deal beginning in 2023 and a bridge year deal in 2022.

FOX: FOX has renewed its agreement to produce the National Football Conference (NFC) package of Sunday afternoon games that it acquired in 1994. FOX expanded its digital rights, including for its AVOD streaming platform Tubi to deliver NFL programming on digital platforms. America's Game of the Week has been the most-watched show in all of television for the last 12 seasons and the most-watched NFL window for the last 20 seasons.

NBC: Sunday Night Football, the #1 Primetime show on TV for an unprecedented 10th consecutive year, will continue to be produced by NBC Sports. In addition to simulcasting all Sunday Night Football games, Peacock, NBCUniversal's streaming service, will deliver an exclusive feed of a select number of NFL games over the course of the agreement. NBC first acquired its package of primetime games in 2006.

NFL NETWORK, the television home of the NFL, will continue to televise a select schedule of exclusive NFL games on a yearly basis.

The NFL also will have the ability to terminate the deal one a one-time basis after seven years.

The NFL has set the 2021 salary cap at $182.5 million, a drop from $198.2 million in 2020.

Teams were bracing for the cap to be set at anywhere between $180 million and $185 million.

League revenues were down dramatically in 2020 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.