Vikings’ Cousins huddles-up after COVID-19 time out

NFLPA reports 65 players have tested positive

Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins returned from the COVID-19 list to practice with Minnesota on Thursday.

Cousins was shut down as a close contact of rookie quarterback Kellen Mond. Because Mond isn’t vaccinated, he’ll need to miss additional time.

Cousins and backup quarterback Nate Stanley were deemed high-risk close contacts to Mond. The former Texas A&M quarterback tested positive for the virus. Stanley is also due back Thursday after isolating.

Jake Browning has been the team’s No. 1 quarterback this week.

Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer gritted his teeth in response to questions about where Mond stands.

Unvaccinated players, such as Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, are required to miss a minimum of 10 days after a positive test.

“We could put this thing to bed if we’d all do this, but it is what it is,” Zimmer said Monday.

Because he wants to get on the field and catch touchdowns, Bears tight end Jimmy Graham is vaccinated against COVID-19.

But the 34-year-old entering his second season in Chicago didn’t go willingly.

“Was basically forced into getting the vaccine. Now I’m just confused @NFLPA,” Graham said via Twitter on Thursday following word of the league and players’ union discussing daily testing even for vaccinated players due to new data around the Delta variant of the coronavirus.

After practice, Graham said he wouldn’t hold back in his direct criticism of the NFLPA.

“If I don’t say anything it will become law,” Graham said after Thursday’s practice, adding he isn’t happy about playing a 17th regular-season game “for free.”

“It’s absolutely insane . ... Especially when I’ve done everything asked of me,” Graham said.

Since training camps opened, 65 players have tested positive for COVID-19, the NFLPA said Thursday.

“I’ve done everything I’ve been asked and now I feel like I’m being punished. If I miss a test that you are proposing every day I’ll be fined a max 150K! How does this make sense. How’s the punishment 100X worse than last year and I’m vaccinated now?” Graham wrote in another tweet.

Bears head coach Matt Nagy, who tested positive earlier in the year, said he understands where players are coming from in absorbing an evolving plan for the 2021 season.

“All these guys have opinions and beliefs, and I’m never going to criticize anybody for what their belief is. We all have it, and we all have the ability to voice it,” Nagy said Thursday. “He (Graham) hasn’t come to me about any of that, and Jimmy and I have a close enough relationship that if there is an issue, that him and I would have that one-on-one.

“There is stuff going on every day with this, and I think everybody is figuring out the best thing to do to be safe. And not just in the sports world but in life in general, every state is a little different in what they are doing.

“Masks, no masks, things are certainly changing.”

Graham caught 50 passes for 456 yards and eight touchdowns in 16 games with the Bears last season. The five-time Pro Bowl selection has 699 catches for 8,339 yards and 82 scores in 169 games with the New Orleans Saints (2010-14), Seattle Seahawks (2015-17), Green Bay Packers (2018-19) and Bears.

The Washington Football Team activated four-time Pro Bowl right guard Brandon Scherff and starting defensive tackle Daron Payne from the reserve/covid-19 list on Thursday.

Scherff, who was placed on the list Saturday, is playing this season on his second consecutive franchise tag. He has started all 78 games in which he has appeared since being selected by Washington with the fifth overall pick of the 2015 NFL Draft.

Payne started all 16 games for Washington last season. He collected 54 tackles, three sacks, three forced fumbles and four passes defended.

The average NFL franchise value soared 14 per cent during the past year to nearly US$3.5 billion despite lost revenues due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Forbes.

The magazine published its annual rankings of the NFL’S most valuable teams Thursday, with the Dallas Cowboys topping the chart for the 15th consecutive year at US$6.5 billion. The New England Patriots (US$5 billion) are second, followed by the New York Giants (US$4.85B), Los Angeles Rams (US$4.8B) and the Washington Football Team (US$4.2B).

The Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers experienced the biggest oneyear bounce, jumping 29 per cent in value to US$2.94 billion since the arrival of Tom Brady.

The Buffalo Bills rank 32nd on the list at US$2.27 billion.

New York Giants receiver Kenny Golladay will be sidelined two to three weeks with a minor hamstring injury, multiple outlets reported Thursday.

The prized off-season acquisition grabbed the back of his left leg shortly before leaving practice at training camp on Tuesday.

The 27-year-old Golladay signed a four-year, Us$72-million contract with the Giants.