OBJ out as outbreak widens
Los Angeles Rams receiver Odell Beckham Jr. and two-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Chris Jones of the Kansas City Chiefs went into the NFL’s COVID-19 protocols Tuesday as the league reported 28 more positive tests among players in its worst twoday outbreak since the pandemic started.
There were a record 37 positive tests among players Monday.
Beckham was among nine Rams players to go on the COVID-19 list Tuesday, pushing that club’s total to 13, while Cleveland now is dealing with its second major outbreak of the season. Receiver Jarvis Landry was among eight Browns players added to the list, putting their total at 11. Cleveland plays the Raiders at home Saturday.
Jones was placed in the COVID-19 protocol a day after receiver Josh Gordon tested positive. Coach Andy Reid wasn’t sure whether either player will be available for Thursday night’s key AFC West showdown against the Chargers.
The league’s worst outbreak came just as it was distributing a memo that set a deadline of Dec. 27 for coaches, front-office staff and team personnel to get a booster shot to still be considered fully vaccinated. That doesn’t apply to players, because discussions with the NFL Players Association are ongoing.
Simpson a ‘free man’ as his parole ends
O.J. Simpson, the 74-year-old former football hero and actor, acquitted California murder defendant and convicted Las Vegas armed robber was granted good behavior credits and discharged from parole effective Dec. 1, Nevada State Police spokeswoman Kim Yoko Smith said.
“Mr. Simpson is a completely free man now,” said Malcolm LaVergne, Simpson’s lawyer in Las Vegas.
Simpson declined an immediate interview, LaVergne said, and the attorney declined to talk about Simpson’s future plans, including whether he intends to remain in Nevada.
Autopsy finds Adams had acute case of CTE
The brain of Phillip Adams, the former NFL player who killed six people in his hometown of Rock Hill, S.C., in April before fatally shooting himself, showed signs of severe chronic traumatic encephalopathy, the director of the Boston University CTE Center announced Tuesday.
Neuropathologist Ann McKee said in a statement released by the Concussion Legacy Foundation that an examination of Adams’s brain revealed Adams had Stage 2 CTE, with Stage 4 being the most severe stage of the degenerative brain disease caused by repetitive impact to the head.
McKee said that among NFL players who died in their 20s and 30s whose brains her center has studied, most had Stage 2 CTE, which is associated with “progressive cognitive and behavioral abnormalities.” But McKee noted that Adams showed signs of unusually severe CTE in both frontal lobes, similar to former NFL player Aaron Hernandez, who died by suicide in 2017 while serving a life sentence for murder.