In early summer, leadership for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the NFL’s defending Super Bowl champions, started a big push for players to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Four former Bucs players spoke to Defector Media about the Buccaneers’ vaccination process.
Two, let’s call them Players A and B, recalled a big push leading up to the Super Bowl ring ceremony on July 22. Player A said the team sent vaccine reminder notifications through the Teamworks app to players’ iPads that said something to the effect of: If we get X number of guys vaccinated, we will be able to have the ring ceremony.
Another former Buc, Player C, said quarterback Tom Brady often spoke to teammates during training camp and OTAs about the importance of getting vaccinated. He’d bring it up when the players would break from walk-through or practice and tell them about how it can help “in your employment and your health journey,” as Player C remembered. The Buccaneers even used colored wristbands to differentiate between vaccinated (yellow) and unvaccinated (red) players during training camp.