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Bear Hugs and Bubbles: Why Some N.F.L. Players Opted Out

Christian Monterrosa for The New York Times

When his daughter, Marae, is old enough, Philadelphia Eagles receiver Marquise Goodwin will teach her to put family first. He will say that she should prioritize the people she loves most when making decisions. He will share his own choice, made five months after she was born: He will sit out the 2020 N.F.L. season.

Picking family over football during the coronavirus pandemic, Goodwin was one of 68 players who the N.F.L. has listed as having opted out by Thursday’s deadline even as the league, despite surging transmission rates around the country, contends that the season will begin, as scheduled, on Sept.