The NFLPA issued a statement Friday urging the NFL to make “immediate changes” to its “outdated” locker room media policy regarding reporters, and Torrey Smith had a lot to state about it.
“Over the past three years, the NFLPA has tried to work with the NFL and the Pro Football Writers of America [PFWA] to move media interviews out of locker rooms. However, there has been little willingness to collaborate on a new solution,” the NFLPA Executive Committee stated.
NFL players want to restrict reporters from conducting locker room interviews, with one former player calling male reporters “straight meat watchers.”
Torrey Smith laid out in graphic terms why this policy change to locker rooms needs to happen.
“If only y’all knew how awkward some of the male reporters act,” former Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Torrey Smith said on X. “Straight meat watchers.”
Reporters regularly mingle with players in the locker room on game day and on practice days.
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“Players feel that locker room interviews invade their privacy and are uncomfortable. This isn’t about limiting media access but about respecting players’ privacy and dignity,” the NFLPA said in a statement.
“We, the NFLPA Executive Committee, urge the NFL to make immediate changes to foster a more respectful and safer workplace for all players.”
NFLPA player representative Ted Karras, a center for the Cincinnati Bengals, told reporters last week that players’ discomfort with locker room interviews has been a longstanding issue.
He added, after “a couple guys (were) naked on camera this year.”
Karras said the hope was that each team could devise a plan to conduct interviews outside the locker room on practice days during the week to “get cameras off guys in private moments.”
Having Locker Room Privacy For Athletes Was A Long Time Coming To Ensure Space Away From Reporters
The NFL Players Association called for curbs on locker room interviews on Friday, saying that they were an invasion of players’ privacy and urging members to seek interviews outside the locker room during the week.
It has never looked good to see a bunch of cameras invading the space of players who are trying to undress, take a shower, and decompress after a hard-fought game.
Players on some NFL teams are “exercising their right under the league’s media policy to be interviewed by reporters outside rather than inside locker rooms during the practice week,” according to Mark Maske of the Washington Post.
There is truly no need for cameras to be roaming around while guys are trying to handle their business.
