Jenkins wants risk mitigated before playing: NFL 'is a nonessential business'

One of the NFL's most vocal players has spoken up regarding the league's return to football amid a global pandemic.

New Orleans Saints safety Malcolm Jenkins expressed concern about participating in the 2020 campaign if the NFL is unable to mitigate the risks of COVID-19, noting that the league has to deal with more personnel than the NBA.

"(Players) end up being kind of on this trust system, the honor system, where we just have to hope that guys are social distancing and things like that," Jenkins told CNN's John Berman. "And that puts all of us at risk - not only us as players and who's in the building, but when you go home to your families. I have parents that I don't want to get sick.

"And I think until we get to the point where we have protocols in place, and until we get to the place as a country where we feel safe (playing), we have to understand that football is a nonessential business, and so we don't need to do it. So, the risk has to be, really, eliminated before we - before I - would feel comfortable with going back."

A number of players have expressed concerns over playing during a pandemic, though the league is working on player-safety strategies.

Jenkins joined CNN as a national affairs commentator earlier in June amid the ongoing racial and social justice issues throughout the U.S.

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