Bill Feig / Associated Press
The New Orleans Saints will have to lose a choice in the 2022 draft of the NFL after breaches of COVID-19 during the 2020 season.
According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, the NFL announced that the Saints will give up a 2022 sixth round choice, in addition to paying a $ 700,000 fine.
According to Tom Pelissero and Rapoport of the NFL Network, the Saints violated the COVID-19 protocols on three separate occasions during the 2020 campaign.
Sean Payton’s head coach didn’t properly put on facial coverage in Week 2, resulting in a $ 250,000 fine for the team and a $ 100,000 fine for Payton, and the team had a maskless celebration after the victory in Week 9, leading to a $ 500,000 fine.
The third violation saw a person with positive COVID-19 and not employed by the team entering the team premises and infecting the running back Alvin Kamara. The interaction was captured on video.
As a result, Kamara and essentially the entire Saints running back group lost the team’s game in week 17 against the Carolina Panthers.
It was also originally announced that the Saints had been reduced to a seventh round choice in 2021 because of their second violation, but the NFL later rescinded that penalty.
Instead, the Saints will have a short choice in the NFL’s 2022 draft because of repeated violations.
Although several teams were fined for breaches of the COVID-19 protocol during the 2020 season, Saints is the only team that has been forced to give up a draft choice so far.