Saints have 2 QBs on COVID-19 list
Two New Orleans quarterbacks, Taysom Hill and Trevor Siemian, Minnesota running back Dalvin Cook and Cleveland center JC Tretter, the NFL Players Association president, tested positive for coronavirus Thursday.
Washington, though, is getting back quarterback Taylor Heinicke.
Hill and Siemian were among nine players for the Saints placed on the reserve/ COVID-19 list. The others include such key players as safety Malcolm Jenkins and tackle Jordan Mills, who is expected to start Monday night against Miami.
The situation left Ian Book, a rookie out of Notre Dame who has been inactive for all 14 games, as the only active quarterback under contract. It appears Book is in line for his maiden NFL regular-season appearance. Running back Alvin Kamara has been the Saints’ emergency quarterback for several seasons and conceivably could take snaps as a wildcat threat.
The latest COVID-19 hit to the Saints came as New Orleans awaits the return of headcoach Sean Payton, who did not travel to Tampa Bay for the Saints’ victory Sunday and has worked from home since testing positive for coronavirus Dec. 16. Defensive coordinator Dennis Allen has been serving as acting head coach.
Also placed on the COVID-19 list: guard James Carpenter, linebacker Kaden Elliss, safety Jeff Heath, defensive end Jalyn Holmes, and defensive tackle Christian Ringo.
Tretter posted on Twitter that he was experiencing symptoms and chose to be tested at the team’s facility in Berea, Ohio.
“Unfortunately, I am positive for COVID-19,” Tretter wrote. “I encourage all NFL players to take every precaution available to them to protect themselves, their families and their teammates from this virus.”
The Browns have been hit hard by a spate of positive tests in the past week and were missing 22 players, including quarterback Baker Mayfield as well as head coach Kevin Stefanski, for Monday night’s rescheduled game against Las Vegas, which Cleveland lost.
On Wednesday, Tretter spoke to reporters for the first time in weeks and discussed the recent challenges for the NFL and players’ union to navigate the uptick in cases because of the omicron variant.
“It has been a trying week or two weeks for everybody,” Tretter said. “This is a new variant. When COVID first happened, we had six months to kind of figure it out and figure out a path forward. In this instance, we had about six days to figure it out.”
Tretter said he had received the vaccine booster and had chosen to stay away from the facility as the team was conducting meetings virtually. He returned for Thursday’s practice and tested positive shortly before the Browns were scheduled to take the field.
The league relaxed some of its testing policies last week amid the outbreak among the Browns and other teams.
The Browns (7-7), who play at Green Bay on Christmas, got two more players back from the COVID-19 list as linebacker Grant Delpit and rookie offensive tackle James Hudson III were activated.
Stefanski returned to the team Wednesday. Mayfield has yet to produce a required negative test. His 10-day quarantine period ends Saturday, and Mayfield is expected to play against the Packers despite not practicing for two weeks.
The Vikings added Cook, who already has his third straight 1,000-yard rushing season and is the only player in the NFL with 1,200-plus yards from scrimmage in each of the past three seasons. Cook has been following protocols for unvaccinated players.