As Saints report for camp, there’s only one thing that can be guaranteed for 2020

I can’t promise Super Bowl-hungry Saints fans a second Lombardi Trophy but I can promise this will be a season they’ll never forget.

For many reasons, many we already can imagine but some we can’t.

On Tuesday, the 2020 Black and Gold reported en masse (as such) to training camp at their team facility in preparation for their scheduled season opener against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sept. 13 at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

The players’ first order of business had nothing to do with football in the strict sense of the word. They were required to get their temperature taken by a representative from BioReference Laboratory, the official COVID-19 testing agency of the NFL, the league’s unofficial “12th Man’‘ if you will.

Virtual off-site meetings were held later in the day.

Physicals, equipment distribution, strength and conditioning tests, walk-throughs, on-field workouts and padded practices will happen next month as part of an elongated 48-day training camp, sans four preseason games, as mandated by the revised Collective Bargaining Agreement reached Friday by the NFL and NFL Players Association.

In fact, each player must have multiple negative tests on consecutive days before he is allowed entrance to the building to engage in team activities.

No questions asked.

The league means business and all 32 team owners have placed their trust in well-paid COVID-19 police by ponying up $75 million for essential testing and contract tracing services.

It’s the new NFL normal because of the deadly pandemic which continues to shake our country’s very foundation.

And yet no matter how many health and safety protocols are put in place, no matter how much money is dedicated to the cause, the fate of the 2020 season comes down to how well the game’s essential workers play ball with the rules.

In other words, do players and coaches follow the exhaustive, demanding and challenging guidelines laid out in the league’s infectious disease emergency response (IDER). Any slip-ups — whether they are innocent or overt violations — by the Saints or any of the other 31 teams could result in a temporary work stoppage or total shutdown.

Look what happened to Major League Baseball the other day. Less than a week into MLB’s shortened 60-game season, the Miami Marlins were forced to cancel several home games after experiencing a coronavirus outbreak on their roster.

Consequently, the Marlins’ situation also impacted a scheduled series between the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Yankees, causing the postponement of games Monday and Tuesday nights.

If COVID-19 outbreaks can happen in the MLB, they certainly can happen in the NFL where well-intended health and safety protocols are physically impossible to maintain because of the very nature of the game.

The deadly disease does not discriminate.

I hope we won’t be looking at the upcoming NFL season with 2020 hindsight.