Unless something changes after a tumultuous week that claimed both Baker Mayfield and now Case Keenum to positive COVID tests, the Browns will play a vital game against the Raiders on Saturday with Nick Mullens as their starting quarterback. (TLOD)
Browns COVID list claims Case Keenum and increases to 21, but NFL insists game will go on as scheduled
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Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland.
The tale of the Browns’ week went from absurd to promising to dire in a matter of hours on Thursday.
Confusion among players throughout the day turned to utter disgust throughout the evening, prompting the NFL players union, led by Browns center JC Tretter, its president, reportedly to urge the league to postpone Saturday’s game against the Las Vegas Raiders for competitive and safety reasons.
The situation continues to be fluid. By the end of the night, this is where things stood:
* The league insisted the game would be played as scheduled.
* The Browns were dealt another batch of positive COVID tests that claimed quarterback Case Keenum, safety Grant Delpit, safety Ronnie Harrison, linebacker Jacob Phillips and cornerback A.J. Green. The Browns have not confirmed the positive tests.
* Heading into the last 48 hours prior to a game with severe playoff ramifications for both teams, the Browns had 21 players on COVID/reserve, including 12 starters, plus two coaches, including Kevin Stefanski. They were down to No. 3 quarterback Nick Mullens, who has been on the team’s practice squad since Week 3 and has not played in a game, and no apparent backup quarterback.
How it got to that point escalated the league’s struggle with a surging COVID outbreak into a possible war with its union.
Earlier in the day, the Browns received some good news when tight end David Njoku passed through COVID protocols and rejoined the team for its first practice on the field of the week.
Prior to the practice, players were told they didn’t have to test for COVID even though the team is designated in “enhanced protocols” because of the large number of positive tests.
Defensive end Myles Garrett, who did not practice but worked out on his own, said players were in “high spirits” but “a bit confused.”
“It was strange in the way they went about testing or, I guess, the lack of testing,” Garrett said on a Zoom call. “I know today they were saying that we were not going to test, and we were just going to go into the building, even though we might have a couple more guys pop up as positive.
“It almost seemed like we were just ignoring it instead of addressing the issue. We should go ahead and test and then allow in the building but not before you get results, and that is how it should be. The lack of testing that we have done all year, I kind of feel like has led to this point. Only testing one time a week and guys doing their own thing on Monday and Tuesday with their time off, it was kind of a recipe for disaster.”
There was a feeling that the league instructed the Browns not to test because it did not want more positives to derail the staging of the game.
Tretter has repeatedly urged the league to test for COVID daily, like last season, but the league has resisted. Reportedly, he insisted that players be tested after practice, and that is when the positives came in for Keenum, Delpit, Phillips and Green – meaning, they practiced while previously infected.
Harrison did not practice and was confirmed as positive by Stefanski in his post-practice Zoom interview.
After the new positives came to light, the union amped up efforts to have the game postponed for reasons of competitive integrity and player safety.
Some Browns players, including Baker Mayfield, voiced disgust over the appearance that the NFL seemed locked into fielding the game solely for revenue reasons.
Mayfield tweeted:
“NFL, Make up your damn mind on protocols. Showing up and making only 3 teams test?!? All so you can keep the game as scheduled to make money.
“Tell me if this makes sense…. No tests this morning… then let our team gather for practice… then show up after practice to test them. Something seems off here.
“Actually caring about player safety would mean delaying the game with this continuing at the rate it is. But to say you won’t test vaccinated players if they don’t have symptoms, then to pull this randomly. Doesn’t make any sense to me.”
Earlier in the day, the NFL revised its COVID protocols after the number of positive tests league-wide soared beyond 100 over the past three days. Without the flexibility built-in to reschedule games this year (as it had last season), the NFL relaxed its return-to-play protocols – apparently without the union’s approval.
The league announced vaccinated players who tested positive but without symptoms could return to play after one negative test, rather than two.
This change conceivably could help the Browns get back some players for Saturday’s game. Yet the union, led by Tretter, apparently opposed the rules change.
Garrett said, “I feel like two [tests] is good. One [test], you never know. It could be positive again the next day, so I think two is a good standard.”
Where this is going is anybody’s guess. Stefanski has not ruled out any of the players on the COVID list.
Brownie bits
After his positive test this week, Stefanski was not allowed to be at practice or in the building. He said he was able to watch it live through the efforts of the team’s video department. “I have to hand it to the players and the coaches, they did a great job with this week,” he said. “It has been all about adapting, being flexible and adjusting by the minute and by the hour. They were able to get a good practice in there today.” …
Stefanski did rule out the following players because of injuries: Running back Kareem Hunt (ankle), cornerback Greg Newsome (concussion) and receiver Anthony Schwartz (concussion) ...
Garrett was held out of practice as a precaution. An asthmatic, Garrett suffered COVID last season for weeks. Clowney was held out because of illness, but had not tested positive for COVID and was expected to play Saturday.
