More than two years have passed since the NFLPA came forward to modify the locker-room access given to media members. They tried to push for a setting other than the team locker room after games and during practice weeks. Two years have passed, and yet no progress has been made in this matter. Per the latest reports, the members of the NFLPA have gone quiet in their efforts. 

“NFL players have not revived their efforts made through their union two years ago to be interviewed by media members at a location other than teams’ locker rooms,” reported Front Office Sports. 

Back during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, the league decided to operate. However, they closed their locker rooms as part of following strict health protocols, and reporters conducted interviews virtually. Non-club-affiliated media were barred from entering the locker room. They allowed in-person media availability, but it had to be outside the locker room. 

With the situation getting better, the league dropped the coronavirus protocols and opened the locker room doors to media members ahead of the 2022 season. For the next two seasons, the reporters interacted with players in locker rooms at stadiums or at teams’ practice facilities.

However, the NFLPA has pointed to privacy issues in advocating for interviews to be conducted away from locker rooms.

Back in September 2024, the PFWA notified its members about an incident in which a radio host recorded a player interview in the locker room, inadvertently capturing another player’s backside in the background. The PFWA said the video was available on YouTube for no more than 20 minutes before being removed after the team contacted the host.

“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.”

Ted Karras, the Cincinnati Bengals center, too, urged that the media sessions be held outside the locker room. 

“I think what brought it to light was a couple guys naked on camera this year. I know that’s happened a few times throughout the history of the league. But this will not affect game day, I don’t think. We’re gonna come up with a good solution to make the week as smooth as possible, get everyone the time they need and, again, protect the sanctity of the locker room,” said Karras.

The PFWA back then revealed that the union had floated the idea of a designated mixed zone outside locker rooms for player interviews, following a format commonly used in international soccer and at the Olympics. Another proposal involved extending the waiting period before media members were granted postgame locker-room access.

“Over the past three years, the NFLPA has tried to work with the NFL and Pro Football Writers of America to move media interviews out of locker rooms,” the union said in a statement issued then. “However, there has been little willingness to collaborate on a new solution. 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 locker rooms are always a safe space for players to express the highs and lows without getting judged. But at the same time, there’s nothing quite like being there in person for those intense postgame moments, whether you’re a player, reporter, or fan. But former wide receiver Torrey Smith highlighted the lack of boundaries. 

“If only y’all knew how awkward some of the male reporters act,” he wrote on X back in October, 2024, resharing the NFL’s statement regarding the locker room policy. “Straight meat watchers.”

While it’s all silence now about pushing the idea of a media locker room ban, the player recounted the incident when his privacy was invaded.

Andrew Whitworth recalled his unusual NFL Network moment

Currently, Andrew Whitworth is known for his beloved presence in front of the camera as the Thursday Night Football analyst on Amazon Prime Video. But that has not always been the case. Back in October, 2015, an NFL Network broadcast of Albert Breer’s interview with Adam “Pacman” Jones captured then-Bengals offensive tackle Whitworth and several of his naked teammates in the background.

A decade later, Whitworth addressed that incident on the August 13 episode of the South Beach Sessions with Dan Le Batard. 

“I think my only one run-in, which we’ve played with a little bit at one of our Amazon seminars one year, is I had my cheeks on the camera one time,” Whitworth said. “I remember my wife was not real excited about it. That was early in my career. It was one of those postgame interviews, where everybody’s in there butt-naked, and I think I was in the background of an interview. That was a fun moment.”

Whitworth, like many athletes after retirement, initially struggled to move beyond the identity of being a football player. But now, he told Le Batard, he proudly calls himself a media guy. 

Being in the shoes of a media person, he may now know that the telecast was not intentional. However, we are yet to get an update from the other NFL players on why they went silent about their agenda.