NFL insider notebook: League officials weighing options on whether to push booster shots, plus Week 14 picks

Jonathan Jones' weekly look inside the NFL

The NFL and NFL Players Association have a decision to make on whether to encourage COVID-19 booster shots for players (and require them for personnel) as positives tick up in the league, the Omicron variant spreads throughout the country and a Super Bowl taking place in Los Angeles County nears.

While there's no vaccine mandate for NFL players, encouragement via looser protocols has been the carrot the league has offered to get 94.4% of its player population vaccinated as recently as Dec. 2.

League officials were mum this week when I asked around about the potential of a booster "requirement." But as recently as Nov. 18, the league's chief medical doctor said more had to be learned about the booster before the NFL took any further steps integrating the third shot into its protocols.