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COVID-19 News & Rumors

Minor NFL Transactions: 10/6/20

October 6th, 2020 at 5:42pm CST by Sam Robinson

Here are Tuesday’s minor moves:

Arizona Cardinals

Cleveland Browns

Green Bay Packers

New England Patriots

  • Placed on reserve/COVID-19 list: DT Bill Murray; Murray was on Patriots’ practice squad

New York Giants

San Francisco 49ers

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Washington Football Team

Raiders Place DT Maurice Hurst On Reserve/COVID-19 List

October 6th, 2020 at 3:48pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Raiders may be without one of their rotational defensive linemen Sunday against the Chiefs. They placed Maurice Hurst on their reserve/COVID-19 list Tuesday, per Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (on Twitter).

Players do not have to test positive for the coronavirus to land on this list; they only need to have come in contact with someone who has. But considering the NFL’s issues with COVID-19 over the past several days, this bears monitoring.

Hurst was not among the Raiders fined for being photographed without masks at Darren Waller‘s fundraiser, but the third-year defensive lineman did play 35 snaps against the Bills. Hurst was not at the fundraiser, according to The Athletic’s Tashan Reed (on Twitter). But the prospect of Hurst playing last week while carrying the virus would present a major issue, though it is not yet known if he has tested positive.

Hurst, 25, also dropped in the draft due to a heart condition. That has not, however, impeded him as a pro. The former fifth-round pick has missed just three games since being drafted. A second-generation NFLer, Hurst has played 42% of Las Vegas’ defensive snaps this season. At present, he is the only player on the Raiders’ COVID list.

Titans, Patriots Have No New COVID-19 Positives

October 6th, 2020 at 8:55am CST by Zachary Links

The Titans received no new positive tests for the second straight day, as Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. The Patriots received good news as well — three days after Cam Newton‘s diagnosis, no one else on the team has tested positive for COVID-19 (Twitter link via ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter).

With two straight days of zero positives, the Titans may be able to reopen their facilities on Wednesday. The Titans have been barred from holding in-person activities since Sept. 29. Later that week, the NFL postponed their scheduled Week 4 game against the Steelers.

The NFL is ramping up the pressure on teams to follow COVID-19 protocols and contain potential outbreaks. On Monday, the league office informed clubs that they could be forced to forfeit games if an outbreak occurs due to lax internal standards.

The Patriots’ game against the Chiefs was played as scheduled on Monday night, though things didn’t exactly go according to plan. With Brian Hoyer under center for the first three quarters and Jarrett Stidham finishing out the game, the Chiefs rolled to a 26-10 victory. Meanwhile, Newton was said to be asymptomatic as of Monday, a promising sign for his recovery and eventual return.

No Positive COVID-19 Tests For Titans, Chiefs, Patriots In Latest Round

October 5th, 2020 at 9:31am CST by Zachary Links

The latest round of COVID-19 testing came back with zero positives for the Titans, Chiefs, and Patriots (Twitter links via Tracy Wolfson of CBS Sports, ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter). With that, the Patriots and Chiefs are set to go ahead with tonight’s game, as planned. The Titans, meanwhile, are one step closer to reopening their facilities.

[RELATED: Patriots QB Cam Newton Tests Positive For COVID-19]

Per league protocols, the Titans will need at least two straight days of zero positive tests before reopening. If they get zero positives in Tuesday’s round of testing, they could reopen as soon as Wednesday. It’s encouraging progress — this round marked the first time in seven days that the Titans had zero positives. Previously, the organization had 18 positive tests across six days.

After New England’s Cam Newton and KC’s Jordan Ta’amu also tested positive, there was plenty of speculation that, like the Titans-Steelers Week 4 contest, the Patriots-Chiefs game slated for this week could be pushed back. For now, the game is on. After tonight, the Chiefs will have played three games in ten days. On the other hand, the Chiefs will face a Brian Hoyer-led New England offense tonight with Cam Newton on the reserve/COVID-19 list.

Chiefs, Patriots To Play Monday Night

October 4th, 2020 at 10:44am CST by Rory Parks

The Chiefs’ latest round of point-of-care COVID-19 tests came back negative, as Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reports (via Twitter). Adam Schefter of ESPN.com had previously reported that the Patriots’ tests also came back negative (Twitter link), so the two clubs will play each other Monday night at 7:05pm ET.

This is obviously great news for the NFL, which is dealing with a significant number of positive tests on the Titans. After New England’s Cam Newton and KC’s Jordan Ta’amu also tested positive, there was plenty of speculation that, like the Titans-Steelers Week 4 contest, the Patriots-Chiefs game slated for this week could be pushed back. For now, it seems like this particular crisis has been averted.

Still, the Chiefs will now face the tall task of playing three games in 10 days, and if the Titans-Bills Week 5 game gets postponed, Buffalo will be coming off a Week 5 bye when it takes on KC. On the other hand, the Chiefs will face a Brian Hoyer-led New England offense tomorrow night, as Newton has now landed on the reserve/COVID-19 list.

Although teams don’t usually undergo tests on gamedays, Schefter reports that both the Patriots and the Chiefs will be tested tomorrow morning (Twitter link). The Falcons-Packers game, the original Monday night contest, will be pushed back to 8:50pm ET.

COVID-19 Latest: Titans, Pats, Newton

October 4th, 2020 at 8:33am CST by Rory Parks

After three blissfully uneventful weeks in the NFL — at least as far as COVID-19 is concerned — the virus has begun to rear its ugly head. Let’s get you up to date with all the pandemic-related happenings in the league:

  • One more Titans player and one more Tennessee personnel member tested positive, as Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets, bringing the total to 20 positive tests (10 players and 10 personnel). Since the Titans have now had positive tests on six straight days, the soonest they could reopen their facilities would be Wednesday, October 7 (Twitter link via Schefter). Tennessee is scheduled to play the Bills next Sunday, October 11.
  • Schefter says in a full-length piece that the league and union are investigating whether the Titans violated COVID-19 protocols, and the team has been asked to turn over multiple videotapes of team activities. At least one source believes Tennessee failed to follow the protocols, and if that turns out to be true, the club could face punishment in the form of fines or draft pick forfeiture. Another source thinks that the league will ultimately look to make an example out of the Titans.
  • Luckily, no other team had a positive test from yesterday’s round of testing, as Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network observes (via Twitter). That includes the Patriots and Chiefs, both of whom recently had a player test positive (starting QB Cam Newton of New England, and practice squad QB Jordan Ta’amu of Kansas City). But as Schefter cautions, the virus has an incubation period, and Newton was in the huddle all week with teammates (Twitter link). There will be another round of testing today, but if the tests come back negative, the plan is to have the Pats and Chiefs play each other on Monday night, per Dianna Russini of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Newton, of course, will miss that game, and his availability for Week 5 is also in doubt.
  • There was a scare last night when ProFootballTalk reported (via Twitter) that a Saints player had tested positive. Subsequent reports indicated that the player was fullback Michael Burton, but as Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.Football tweeted, Burton’s retest came back negative, so the Saints’ game against the Lions will go on today as scheduled.
  • Hopefully the league will be able to recover from these scares, but Mark Maske of the Washington Post says the NFL is looking into the possibility of adding a Week 18 to the regular season schedule to accommodate postponed games (Twitter link). ProFootballTalk adds that multiple coaches have discussed the possibility of temporarily suspending the season, reconfiguring the schedule to allow for 12 total games, and then putting teams in hotels for the nine games that would remain (Twitter link).
  • Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports writes that the league will hold a mandatory phone call for coaches, GMs, and owners tomorrow to discuss penalties for violating COVID-19 protocols. La Canfora says in a separate piece that the league is also considering playoff bubbles.

Titans Place Jeffery Simmons On Reserve/COVID-19 List

October 3rd, 2020 at 3:45pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Titans have placed one of their starters on the reserve/COVID-19 list. Defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons landed on the list, joining at least eight of his teammates.

While players do not have to test positive for the coronavirus to be moved to the COVID list, the Titans — as of Saturday morning — have seen nine players test positive thus far amid the NFL’s first outbreak. Simmons could well be the unnamed ninth player, or the 2019 first-round pick could be a 10th.

One of the Titans’ top defenders, Simmons has played well thus far this season. The Titans landed him at No. 19 overall in 2019 because of the ACL tear he suffered prior to the draft. After trading Jurrell Casey to the Broncos, the Titans have Simmons entrenched as their top D-line disruptor.

Simmons is the highest-profile Titans player to be part of the organization’s COVID spread. The Titans now have first-round tackle Isaiah Wilson, second-round rookie corner Kristian Fulton, wideout Adam Humphries, long snapper Beau Brinkley, defensive lineman DaQuan Jones, linebacker Kamalei Correa and practice squad cogs Greg Mabin, Cameron Batson and Tommy Hudson on their reserve/COVID list.

Tennessee’s game against Pittsburgh has been moved to Week 7, with the Steelers’ first 2020 Ravens matchup being switched to Week 8. While the NFL expanded practice squads from 12 to 16 players because of the coronavirus pandemic, it is safe to say the Titans’ Week 5 game against the Bills is in doubt.

Three More Members Of Titans Organization Test Positive For COVID-19

October 3rd, 2020 at 9:17am CST by Ben Levine

Three more individuals in the Titans organization have tested positive for COVID-19, including one player and two staff members, reports ESPN’s Adam Schefter (via Twitter). That brings the organization’s number of positive cases to 16 (eight players, eight other team members).

Earlier this week, the NFL postponed this weekend’s Titans’ game against the Steelers indefinitely, but the NFL might have to start considering contingency plans for Week 5, as well. Schefter notes on Twitter that the continued positive tests will increase “questions about the viability of next weekend’s Titans-Bills game.” The NFL was fortunate that they could accommodate this weekend’s postponement; it’s uncertain what they’ll do if the Titans are forced to sit out another week. Sam Farmer of the LA Times tweets that it’s an inevitability “that the NFL would tack an extra week onto the regular season for make-up games”

We do know that the NFL won’t open Titans facilities until they’re confident the “transmission event” has come to an end.

“We don’t want to reopen the Titans’ facility until we’re convinced that we’ve reached the end of the transmission event that occurred earlier this week and that we have put in place all the measures to keep everyone safe there,” NFL chief medical officer Allen Sills said (via Mark Maske of The Washington Post on Twitter).

Fortunately, there’s some good news out of Minnesota after the Titans played the Vikings last weekend. ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler tweets that the Vikings “received no positive Covid-19 testing results in today’s report.”

NFL Extends Daily COVID-19 Testing

October 2nd, 2020 at 9:51am CST by Zachary Links

In the wake of the Titans’ COVID-19 outbreak, the NFL announced that it will continue testing all players and coaches on a daily basis, with the exception of game days. And, in a new development, players and coaches will be barred from leaving their team’s city during bye weeks to further mitigate the potential for viral contraction and spread.

[RELATED: Latest On Titans’ COVID-19 Outbreak]

The penalties for missed tests will also continue. A player who misses one test without prior authorization will receive a $50K fine. Two missed tests will result in a one-game ban, and any missed tests beyond that will lead to longer suspensions, also without pay.

In related news, Sunday’s game between the Texans and Vikings will go on as scheduled, per NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport (on Twitter). For now, Titans-Steelers represents the only game to be bumped from the Week 4 slate.

Latest On Titans’ COVID-19 Outbreak

October 2nd, 2020 at 9:35am CST by Zachary Links

Two more Titans players have tested positive for COVID-19, as Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. In total, seven Titans players and six personnel members have tested positive. 

On Thursday, the NFL postponed the Titans’ game against the Steelers, scheduled for Sunday. The make-up date for that game remains TBD — all we know for now is that it will not be made up during Week 4, as initially planned. The Vikings, who played the Titans on Sunday, have received zero positive tests this week. For now, their Sunday game against the Texans is set to go on as scheduled.

In the interim, the Vikings will operate under the “supplemental intensive protocols” set forth by the league. The protocols include no in-person meetings, two daily tests per person, and mandatory masks and gloves for everyone on the practice field.

“There is one simple rule to remember,” said the NFL in Thursday’s memo. “Act as if every person you come in contact with has a COVID infection and take appropriate precautions.”

At last check, no one on the Titans was seriously ill, beyond some flu-like symptoms.

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