Wednesday Morning Positivity: Why Willie McGinest Believes We Will Have an NFL Season in 2020

On today's Pardon My Take, three-time Super Bowl Champion and NFL Network Analyst Willie McGinest joined the show. The recurring guest hopped on with Mr. Cat and Mr. Commenter to discuss Cam Newton in New England, Tom Brady to Tampa Bay, culture change in locker rooms, and more. To start the interview off, Mr. Cat also asked McGinest the golden question of 2020: Will there be an NFL season? Here is what the former Patriot had to say:

Mr. Cat: So, obviously things have been weird because the Coronavirus and everything that's going on. Are you 100 percent confident sitting here right now that we're going to play NFL?

Willie McGinest: I want to say I am. I mean, I'm not on the board, my pay grade is not that high, that I could tell you, "Hey, the season is definitely going to happen." But all indications point that there is going to be an NFL season and we are preparing for that as the NFL, as the network that I work for, the league, under the NFL umbrella that I work for. They're putting out different protocols in place. And everything that I'm told is that we are definitely having an NFL season. 

Mr. Cat: So, just a little tip here. Don't say the first part, that you're not on the pay grade for it. You need to speak confidently about it, because what's happening right now in society is a big game of telephone, where you tell me that we're having NFL season, then random people ask me because I'm an expert in their eyes, which I'm not. And I can confidently say, yeah, I was talking Willie McGinest, we're having NFL. So then eventually all of society is confident and then we don't even know who told us we're having it, but we're all having it together.

Willie McGinest: I got you, man. Like I said, those main decisions are going to come from the NFL office. But what we're preparing for and what we're telling everybody is that we are having a season. And that's what's happening. So, I'm the messenger. 

Mr. Commenter: Have you seen those helmets that they're putting out that have the integrated masks in them that's supposed to, I guess, deflect a lot of those spittle and like, you know, moisture that comes out of your mouth during a game? Can you imagine a player actually wearing those? It feels like it would be insanely hard to catch your breath in those things?

Willie McGinest: Well, I mean, if you think about the shield that players wear, it covers the nose, the eyes, and part of that, too. But if there's a shield, it's not like it's wrapped around your face and there's no air or circulation. So, I have not seen it, heard about it. But, you know, like I said, they're taking all the precautions that, you know, that are possible. So if that's what it has to be, man, to make this season go, and protect all the players and protect their families, that's what we've got to do. I'm on board with that.

Positive. Vibes. Only. Like Willie McGinest mentioned with the new helmets, if that's what it takes, then that is what it takes. We need football in 2020. And hopefully in two months, we are talking Week 1 of the regular season. Only time will tell.