After Hernandez tests positive for COVID-19, seven O-lineman quarantine ahead of Monday Brady visit
Giants starting left guard Will Hernandez tested positive for COVID-19 late Wednesday, prompting the team to quarantine eight players, including seven offensive linemen, and two assistant coaches. A Buccaneers equipment staff member also tested positive late Wednesday, leading Tampa Bay to isolate that individual and one other football operations staffer.
But both teams continued practicing and kept their facilities open Thursday. Monday night’s game between the Giants (1-6) and Bucs (5-2) at MetLife Stadium remains on schedule.
And excluding Hernandez, Giants coach Joe Judge was “optimistic” that he would have all of his quarantined players back to face Todd Bowles’ Bucs defense.
“We’re expecting to play Monday night, and that’s our mindset,” said Judge, who described his level of concern over a possible postponement as “none.”
Contact tracing forced the Giants to practice in the rain with only four offensive linemen on Thursday, though, and Judge had the players practice in masks for the first time this season as an increased layer of precaution.
“[It was] as comfortable as you would think: not too comfortable,” safety Logan Ryan said. “But this is 2020, a lot of things we have to adjust for, a lot of curveballs, I’m not complaining. Got the best job in the world, so I adjusted pretty quickly.”
Right guard Kevin Zeitler was the only starting O-lineman on the field, along with backup tackles Matt Peart and Jackson Barton, and practice squad tackle Kyle
Murphy. A player from another position (who can not be disclosed, per
Giants media rules) functioned as the team’s fifth offensive lineman.
The seven players isolated due to contact tracing were starting center Nick Gates, starting left tackle Andrew Thomas, starting right tackle Cam Fleming, reserve guards Shane Lemieux and Chad Slade (practice squad), backup center Spencer Pulley, and receiver Binjimen Victor (practice squad).
Outside linebackers coach Bret Bielema and defensive backs coach Jerome Henderson were quarantined, as well. All the players and coaches continued participating in meetings remotely.
Fortunately, all nine individuals also were only determined to be close contacts to Hernandez and not high-risk, based on the amount of time they spent near him. So as long as they test negative both Thursday and Friday morning and remain asymptomatic, they can be back with the team as early as Friday. They would also enter an increased symptom monitoring program that includes eight straight days of mandatory testing.
The contact tracing is possible because all players, coaches and staff are required to wear tracer devices throughout the entire workday: at practice, in the meetings, in the cafeteria, in the locker room, everywhere. Judge said he carries his in his pocket. Some wear it around their necks on a lanyard. But everyone has one at all times.
“Their amount of exposure to this was really on the minimum level to be registered in this category, so that kind of eliminates them from being highrisk guys,” Judge said. “Most of it came from passing [each other], sitting near each other in team meetings, things of that nature.”
Hernandez, 25, was feeling fine physically on Thursday afternoon, according to a source, pending an in-person examination. But the team placed him on the NFL’s reserve/COVID-19 list on Thursday and he is in jeopardy of missing the game.
If he does sit out, he will miss an NFL snap for the first time in his career. Hernandez has played in all 2,523 Giants offensive snaps for which he has been eligible, including all 429 in his third NFL season this fall.
Hernandez, it should be noted, was not one of the Giants players who were caught
AP partying maskless Friday night in New York City, according to a source.
The Giants received his initial positive test early Wednesday evening, and the sample was re-tested and confirmed positive late Wednesday night.
If Hernandez remains asymptomatic, he would have to receive two negative COVID-19 tests 24 hours apart in order to play in Monday’s game, which is unlikely given that his positive test was already confirmed.
“I’ll wait and see how the testing goes these next couple days,” Judge said of Hernandez’s status.
If he continues to test positive but remains asymptomatic, Hernandez must wait a minimum of 10 days since his first positive test to reacclimate. That scenario would have him returning to in-person activities on Nov. 7, a travel day for the Giants to Washington for a game the next day.
In that event, the rookie Lemieux out of Oregon likely would start in Hernandez’s place.
“We were planning on really working him in throughout the games anyway, to be honest with you, in terms of just like we kind of worked Matt Peart into games as well,” Judge said. “We have confidence in Shane.”
On another front, Hernandez going on the reserve/COVID-19 list might complicate the Giants’ plans approaching Tuesday’s NFL trade deadline.
Zeitler, 30, is one of their more likely trade chips as a serviceable lineman other teams might covet with a hefty salary the Giants wouldn’t mind dumping.
But if Hernandez’s health is a long-term concern, that could impact or alter the Giants’ decision to move Zeitler.
As for the rest of the team, Judge said the Giants would continue to practice in person on Friday, as well. But he changed Thursday afternoon’s meetings from in-person to virtual, and he said he might do the same for Friday’s morning and afternoon meetings, too.
Asked if Hernandez’s positive test could impact Saquon Barkley’s scheduled surgery on his right ACL in Los Angeles this week, Judge said: “Not that I’m aware of.”
Ronnie Barnes, senior VP of medical services, has led the Giants’ COVID-19 containment efforts and was the first in contact with Hernandez. The team is closely working with NFL chief medical officer Dr. Allen Sills on their next protocol steps.
This is the first Giants positive COVID-19 test of the regular season. Wide receiver David Sills V tested positive early in training camp but was asymptomatic and spent a week in quarantine (July 28-Aug. 4) before rejoining the team. Former linebacker Josiah Tauaefa was a false positive on Aug. 4, as well.
The entire NFL was hit by a rash of 77 false positive tests in late August due to contamination of the laboratory testing process. The Giants had two staffers (not coaches or players) who tested positive that were later confirmed false during that situation. And they had two other individuals were placed in an isolated protocol due to contact tracing who tested negative, as well.
The Giants weren’t the only team who had a positive player test on Thursday that led to quarantines of others, either. The Los Angeles Chargers had to quarantine multiple players as wella after offensive lineman Ryan Groy tested positive.
The Buccaneers said only one individual contact traced as close to the positive equipment staffer test, and that second individual subsequently tested negative. “No other members of the organization were identified as high risk for exposure,” the team said.
This is the second week in a row the Bucs’ opponent has been hit with a COVID-19 outbreak on its offensive line. The Las Vegas Raiders started four linemen who didn’t take a single practice snap in the days prior to last week’s 45-20 loss to Tampa Bay due to quarantines last week leading up to the game.
The Giants don’t expect to be in the Raiders’ position, but Judge is preparing for everything.
“We’re very optimistic right now we’re going to have our players back,” Judge said. “Obviously, it’s our job to make contingency plans.”