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COVID-19 News & Rumors

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 11/18/20

November 18th, 2020 at 6:54pm CST by Sam Robinson

Here are Wednesday’s practice squad moves:

Carolina Panthers

Cincinnati Bengals

  • Signed: CB Trajan Bandy, CB Donnie Lewis

Houston Texans

  • Signed: WR Artavis Scott

Las Vegas Raiders

  • Placed on practice squad reserve/COVID-19 list: DL David Irving

Los Angeles Rams

Miami Dolphins

New England Patriots

  • Signed: DT Nick Thurman
  • Activated from practice squad IR: TE Jake Burt

Minor NFL Transactions: 11/18/20

November 18th, 2020 at 5:20pm CST by Sam Robinson

Here are Wednesday’s minor moves:

Baltimore Ravens

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Dallas Cowboys

Denver Broncos

Miami Dolphins

New York Giants

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

  • Activated from IR: OL Phil Haynes
  • Placed on IR: CB Neiko Thorpe

Tennessee Titans

Raiders To Place Several Defenders On Reserve/COVID-19 List

November 18th, 2020 at 4:09pm CST by Sam Robinson

4:09pm: The following Raiders landed on the reserve/COVID-19 list: Johnathan Abram, Maliek Collins, Johnathan Hankins, Arden Key, cornerback Isaiah Johnson and defensive tackle Kendal Vickers. While this comes in under the rumored eight-starter number, five Raiders defensive first-stringers are currently sidelined — when Ferrell and Joyner are included.

3:06pm: The Raiders already prepared for a game without their first-string offensive line. They will face another difficult task ahead of their Week 11 rematch with the Chiefs.

At least eight members of the Raiders’ starting defense will land on their reserve/COVID-19 list, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter). Some of Las Vegas’ non-starter contributors on defense will also surface on the COVID list soon.

These players qualify as high-risk close contacts, and while Rapoport and NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero note they are not ruled out of Sunday night’s game (Twitter link), this certainly will bring another challenge for a team accustomed to dealing with them on the coronavirus front.

This news comes after the Raiders placed Clelin Ferrell and Lamarcus Joyner on their coronavirus list. The former tested positive for COVID-19, Rapoport tweets. With two starters already on the list — and Ferrell set to miss the team’s Week 11 game — Wednesday’s news would cover almost every other starting defender. The latest slew of players set to appear on Vegas’ COVID list are indeed close Ferrell contacts, Vincent Bonsignore of the Las Vegas Review-Journal tweets.

Players who land on the virus list must isolate for five days. That timetable starts not at the point they land on the list but dates back to the individuals’ last contact with someone who contracted the virus. The Raiders are currently down right tackle Trent Brown due to COVID-19 and have lost a 2021 draft choice — and more than $1MM in total this season — because of failure to comply with the NFL’s COVID protocols.

Ahead of their Week 7 game against the Buccaneers, the Raiders practiced without Brown and the rest of their starting offensive line because of the group qualifying as high-risk close contacts of the mammoth tackle. The rest of the Raiders’ O-line returned to face the Bucs, which was moved from Sunday night to Sunday afternoon. With more Raiders out of practice because of the virus a month later, it would not be surprising if the NFL removes this game from the Sunday-night time slot as well to create flexibility in the event a postponement is necessary.

Rams Player Tests Positive For COVID-19

November 18th, 2020 at 8:52am CST by Zachary Links

One Rams player has tested positive for COVID-19, per a club announcement. In accordance with league guidelines, the player has entered self-quarantine. The Rams say that the player is in quarantine “out of an abundance of caution” — a possible indication that he is asymptomatic or only mildly symptomatic. Meanwhile, the Rams will conduct all Wednesday activities virtually.

The Rams are slated for a huge Monday Night Football matchup against the Bucs this week. Barring an outbreak of more positive tests, that game will still go on as scheduled. The Seahawks — the Rams’ last opponent — will be keeping a watchful eye on test results. To date, they are the only NFL team that has not reported a positive COVID-19 test since the start of the regular season.

On Tuesday, the Washington Football Team and the Giants both announced COVID-19 positives. Kicker Graham Gano is the Giants’ COVID-19 positive player; the Washington positive is unknown.

Giants, Washington Have COVID-19 Positives

November 17th, 2020 at 1:55pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

We continue to see a steady uptick in COVID-19 cases around the league, although fortunately they have been mostly isolated incidents with no full-blown outbreaks. Tuesday morning we got word of two more teams with players testing positive, both in the NFC East. The Giants and the Washington Football Team are the latest to be hit with the virus.

The Giants’ player is kicker Graham Gano, Paul Schwartz of the New York Post tweets. Thankfully New York is on bye this week, so Gano should be able to kick by the next time the Giants play a game in Week 12 against Cincinnati assuming there are no complications, Mike Garafolo of NFL Network tweets. The Giants are finally starting to pick up a little steam, so hopefully this remains an isolated incident that has minimal implications because of the bye.

Washington also had a player test positive, and also thankfully it sounds like somewhat of a best-case scenario. The unidentified player hasn’t been in the facility in the past few days and didn’t travel with the team for their game in Detroit last week, Tom Pelissero of NFL Network tweets. That’s because the player is currently on injured reserve, Nicki Jhabvala of the Washington Post tweets.

Washington is going into the intensive protocol, but since he didn’t play in the game the Lions won’t have to and hopefully no other Washington players caught it. Interestingly, as Pelissero noted in a follow-up tweet, Washington was one of only three teams who hadn’t placed a player on the reserve/COVID-19 list during the regular season before now. The only two remaining are the Rams and Seahawks.

COVID-19 Positive Test Closes Browns Facility

November 16th, 2020 at 12:34pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

UPDATE, 3:45pm: The Browns have placed fullback Andy Janovich on the reserve/COVID-19 list, Tom Pelissero of NFL Network tweets, which would seem to suggest he’s the player who tested positive.

12:34 pm: Cases of COVID-19 continue to trickle in throughout the league, and the Browns are the latest to be hit by the virus. Cleveland is closing their facility after a player tested positive Monday morning, the team announced in a tweet. This news comes just a few days after the Browns were originally cleared to reopen their facility following offensive lineman Chris Hubbard‘s positive test.

By now the drill is more or less routine. The Browns will have their facility closed while they conduct contact tracing and identify any close contacts. Players who are close contacts with the infected player will then likely go on the reserve/COVID-19 list as well, although they can still play this coming week as long as they test negative for five days in a row. Speaking to the media on Monday, head coach Kevin Stefanski declined to say whether the player played on Sunday against the Texans.

Assuming he did, Houston will then likely have to go into an intensive protocol as well around their facility. There’s no word yet on who the player on the Browns is, but we’ll pass that along as soon as it’s reported. Cleveland improved to 6-3 yesterday with their victory over the Texans.

Vikings OL Dru Samia Tests Positive For COVID-19

November 15th, 2020 at 12:40pm CST by Rory Parks

Vikings offensive lineman Dru Samia has tested positive for COVID-19, per Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network (via Twitter). Contact tracing is being performed, and Samia and anyone deemed a high-risk contact will not be permitted to travel with the team for tomorrow night’s game against the Bears.

Samia, a 2019 fourth-rounder, started four games for Minnesota earlier this year before returning to a reserve role. But the Vikings just released Pat Elflein and now find themselves without their top backup at guard. Plus, there is a good chance that there will indeed be high-risk contacts given the nature of O-line/D-line play.

Courtney Cronin of ESPN.com suggests that Brett Jones, who is currently on the practice squad, and Oli Udoh could find themselves in the O-line mix if any of Samia’s fellow blockers are deemed high-risk contacts or if the team should suffer an injury during tomorrow’s game. Cronin also expects the Vikes to promote Aviante Collins from the practice squad (Twitter link).

We will keep you updated as more information becomes available.

Josh Norman Tests Positive For COVID-19

November 15th, 2020 at 11:46am CST by Sam Robinson

Nov. 15: Luckily for Norman, he is asymptomatic, as Ed Werder of ESPN.com reports (via Twitter). Norman understands that he cannot play today due to league protocols, but he says he feels well enough to do so. The team hopes to have him back shortly.

Nov. 14: The Bills have run into a COVID-19 issue ahead of their trip to Arizona. Josh Norman tested positive for the coronavirus, according to the team, and this will result in at least four Bills not traveling for their Week 10 game.

Norman, cornerback Levi Wallace, safety Dean Marlowe and tight end Tyler Kroft landed on Buffalo’s reserve/COVID-19 list. The latter three players — deemed as high-risk close contacts — must isolate for five days.

As of now, Sunday’s Bills-Cardinals game remains on as scheduled. The team is set to travel to Arizona later this afternoon. Defensive assistant Leonard Johnson will join the aforementioned quartet of players in not making the trip to the desert.

This is not the first time Saturday news of a Bills positive test emerged to weaken one of their position groups. Dawson Knox tested positive for COVID-19 late last month, and the Bills placed two other tight ends on their COVID list that day. The NFL did not adjust the game time of the Bills’ rematch with the Jets. The league has not changed a game time because of COVID-19 since Week 7. With virus numbers skyrocketing around the country, similar challenges to the one that prompted the NFL to move a Bills-Titans game to a Tuesday night appear on the horizon.

Norman signed a one-year, $6MM deal with the Bills — one of several ex-Panthers to rejoin Sean McDermott and Brandon Beane in Buffalo this offseason — but began the season on IR. He returned for three games but has missed the past three due to a hamstring injury. He had practiced all week and was expected to return against Arizona, however. The Bills also recalled Wallace from IR earlier this season.

They will face the Cardinals’ No. 1-ranked offense with a depleted secondary. The team will promote some reinforcements, however. The Bills elevated Daryl Worley, Darron Lee, cornerback Dane Jackson, wide receiver Jake Kumerow and safety Josh Thomas from their practice squad.

Coaching Rumors: Crennel, Quinn, Fitzgerald

November 15th, 2020 at 9:18am CST by Rory Parks

The Texans fired head coach/general manager Bill O’Brien last month following an 0-4 start, and interim HC Romeo Crennel has righted the ship a bit. Under Crennel’s watch, Houston is 2-2, and while those two wins came against the lowly Jaguars, the Texans came within an eyelash of toppling the Titans in Week 6.

Crennel, 73, has been viewed as a placeholder for 2020, but he could retain the gig through the 2021 season, as Ian Rapoport of NFL.com writes. COVID-19 restrictions will probably not permit a traditional in-person search this offseason, so teams hiring a new HC could be committing a boatload of money to a person they have never even met. As such, the Texans might stick with Crennel next season and seek their long-term answer the following year. If that happens, VP of football operations Jack Easterby may continue serving as GM.

Of course, the team has been connected to Chiefs OC Eric Bieniemy, who is a favorite of QB Deshaun Watson. Bieniemy is widely expected to secure a head coaching job this offseason regardless of travel restrictions, so if Houston wants him, it might need to take a leap of faith. And John McClain of the Houston Chronicle says the Texans will indeed hire a new GM and HC at season’s end, while fellow Houston Chronicle scribe Aaron Wilson says the search remains active (Twitter links).

Now for more a few more coaching rumors:

  • The Falcons parted ways with HC Dan Quinn earlier this season, but it doesn’t sound like Quinn will be out of work for long. Per Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports, several teams have made it known that they would like to have Quinn on their staff in 2021, and coordinators who might become head coaches next season have tapped Quinn as their first choice for defensive coordinator. La Canfora says Quinn could rejoin the Seahawks given Seattle’s defensive struggles this year, and he could also end up as the 49ers‘ DC if Robert Saleh gets a head coaching job.
  • Given the financial toll that the pandemic has taken on college athletic departments, top college coaches have become increasingly receptive to a jump to the NFL, as La Canfora details in a separate piece. Names like Lincoln Riley, Jim Harbaugh, and Brian Kelly, who frequently come up in offseason coaching rumors, will again be at the forefront of the discussion in 2021.
  • Northwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald has drawn interest from NFL teams in the past, and as of January 2019, he indicated he was not interested in NFL opportunities. However, COVID-19 might make him more receptive to an HC job in the pros, and his hometown Bears could come calling. La Canfora says Bears ownership is high on Fitzgerald, and if Chicago moves on from Matt Nagy, Fitzgerald might be on the top of the team’s wish-list.

Saints Facing Punishment For COVID-19 Protocol Violations

November 15th, 2020 at 8:24am CST by Rory Parks

The Saints are once again under fire for violating the league’s COVID-19 protocols. As Adam Schefter of ESPN.com reports, the NFL is expected to discipline the Saints in the coming days after videos of the team’s postgame celebration of last Sunday’s win over the Bucs — videos that revealed protocol violations — were posted to social media.

New Orleans thrashed division-rival Tampa Bay on the road in primetime last week, so there was plenty to celebrate. But in the video that was posted to the Saints’ official Twitter account following the game, and in videos that players posted to their own social media accounts, multiple players were seen not wearing masks.

While players are not required to wear masks during the game, they are required to do so in the locker room. So it’s clear that the team was in violation of protocols, and since the Saints now qualify as repeat offenders, their punishment could be stiff.

After the club’s Week 2 loss to the Raiders, head coach Sean Payton was fined $100K and the Saints were fined $250K because Payton was not wearing his mask during the game. The Raiders themselves were recently stripped of a sixth-round pick for multiple violations of COVID-19 protocols, and it’s possible that New Orleans could face a similar fate.

At the very least, the Saints can probably expect another hefty fine. Along with the forfeiture of a sixth-round draft choice, Las Vegas was docked $500K for its most recent transgressions.

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