Aug 24, 2020 4 min read

Miami Dolphins quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick says an NFL crowd of 13,000 is enough to be heard.

“I played a lot of games in college with less fans than that,” the Harvard alum said Monday. “We’re excited to have fans out there cheering for us.”

The Dolphins announced plans to allow up to 13,000 masked, socially distancing fans to attend their home opener against the Buffalo Bills on Sept. 20, and the decision generated plenty of noise around the NFL and beyond.

Bills coach Sean McDermott described as “ridiculous” the lack of league-wide uniformity regarding crowd sizes during the coronavirus pandemic. Denver Broncos coach Vic Fangio disagreed, and said the Dolphins’ announcement signifies progress against the virus.

Florida political leaders were also divided. U.S. Rep. Donna Shalala sounded an alarm about spectator safety, but Gov. Ron DeSantis said cheering crowds are something to cheer about.

“Look, we’ve been watching sports on TV,” DeSantis said during a news conference at the Dolphins’ stadium to announce their plan. “But when you watch the NBA with an empty arena, or Major League Baseball with an empty stadium, it’s just not quite the same. I know this isn’t going to be people falling from the rafters here, but I think it is something that will give people a little bit of hope.”

Crowd size for the Dolphins-Bills game will be about 20% of the stadium’s 65,326-seat capacity, with groups of spectators spaced 6 feet apart. The same plan will be followed for the University of Miami’s home opener against UAB at the stadium on Sept. 10.

Fifteen of the NFL’s 32 teams have ruled out spectators to start the season. The Dolphins are one of at least eight teams hoping to have a limited number of spectators, while many teams haven’t announced plans.

Injuries mounting for Browns

The Cleveland Browns defense may have taken another jarring hit.

Rookie safety Grant Delpit was carted off the practice field Monday with a right Achilles injury, the latest Cleveland player to go down in what has been a tough training camp so far for the team and first-year coach Kevin Stefanski.

A second-round pick from national champion LSU, Delpit was expected to start this season. The 6-foot-2, 213-pounder got hurt during individual drills. He pounded his hand on the ground in frustration before being helped onto the cart and taken inside the team’s facility.

The team only confirmed Delpit’s injury and said he will undergo further testing. Delpit was penciled in to start alongside Karl Joseph, who was signed as a free agent during the offseason but is nursing a foot injury. The Browns also signed veteran safety Andrew Sendejo.

But Delpit was seen as a long-term upgrade at a position that was a problem for the Browns last season.

Not long after Delpit got hurt, starting cornerback Greedy Williams – another former LSU player – left the field accompanied by athletic trainers with a reported shoulder injury.

Patriots re-sign Folk

The New England Patriots may not have settled on their replacement for kicker Stephen Gostkowski.

New England re-signed veteran Nick Folk on Monday, giving rookie fifth-round draft pick Justin Rohrwasser some competition for the job as the team moves into what coach Bill Belichick said was a “big week” for players to begin showing progress during the truncated training camp. Teams must trim their rosters to 53 players by Sept. 5.

“I think we’re in position, hopefully, to string some good days together and have a lot of little things start to fit together in the overall big picture,” Belichick said.

Whether that includes the 35-year-old Folk, a veteran of three other NFL teams, remains to be seen. He finished last season as New England’s kicker after Gostkowski played just four games before going on injured reserve in October and having season-ending hip surgery.