Doctor: NFL COVID-19 testing issues gave it test fire drill
In two-plus weeks, the NFL kicks off its season. That doesn’t leave much time to resolve significant issues about its COVID-19 testing procedures.
BioReference Laboratories, which is conducting tests for the league, said Monday an isolated contamination caused 77 “most likely false positive results,” at its lab in New Jersey. Eleven clubs were affected, and the tests were reexamined and found to be false positives.
“This has been an interesting dynamic because what happened this weekend gave the NFL an opportunity to do a sort of a test fire drill,” noted Dr. Larry Caplin, who said he consults NFL players and their union about testing protocols, “It exposed issues and potential vulnerabilities in their process, and a lot of it relates to the speed in which they’re able to confirm results.”
Among teams reporting false positives, the Minnesota Vikings had 12, the New York Jets 10, the Chicago Bears nine and the Detroit Lions one.
“It’s probably good that it happened now since we’re able to adjust and adapt and figure out the things if it did happen during the season, and kind of what we would do from there,” Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said.
Five labs across the country process tests for the league’s 32 teams and only the New Jersey facility had false positives on Saturday.
The Jets canceled a walkthrough Saturday night but had a full practice Sunday morning after the previously positive tests came back negative. The Bears moved their practice scheduled for Sunday morning to the afternoon. The Cleveland Browns initially canceled practice, but after retesting turned up negative tests they decided to have their workout.
Browns coach Kevin Stefanski returned to practice, one day after he missed the session following what proved to be a false positive COVID-19 test.
BROWNS ROOKIE CARTED OFF WITH ACHILLES INJURY >>
The Browns defense may have taken another jarring hit.
Rookie safety Grant Delpit was carted off the practice field Monday with an Achilles injury, the latest Cleveland player to go down in what has been a tough training camp so far for the team and first-year coach Kevin Stefanski.
A second-round pick from national champion LSU, Delpit was expected to start this season. The 6-foot-2, 213-pounder got hurt during individual drills. He pounded his hand on the ground in frustration before being taken inside the team’s facility.
The team only confirmed Delpit’s injury and said he will undergo further testing.
Not long after Delpit got hurt, starting cornerback Greedy Williams left the field accompanied by athletic trainers. Williams missed Cleveland’s first four games last season with a badly pulled hamstring.
The Browns are already missing two potential starters on defense as Mack Wilson sustained a serious knee injury last week and projected nickel back Kevin Johnson sustained a lacerated liver on a routine play in practice.
BUCS ROOKIE LB KNOCKS DOWN BRADY IN PRACTICE >>
A Tampa Bay Buccaneers rookie linebacker broke the cardinal rule of training camp: Don’t hit the quarterback. That rule is underscored six times when the quarterback is 43-year-old Tom Brady, who has won six Super Bowl titles.
Cam Gill apparently didn’t get the memo, however, as the rookie knocked a backpedaling Brady to the ground on Monday, according to PewterReport.
PewterReport later revealed it was Gill who lowered the boom. Brady didn’t seem the worse for wear after the exchange.
Former New England Patriots
linebacker Matt Chatham, Brady’s teammate on three Super Bowl-winning teams, tweeted:
“I once accidentally knocked Tom down in a Friday practice before a Super Bowl on a double fake screen thing where I thought I was running past him, but he reversed out into the path I was on. In that instant, my life & career flashed before my eyes.”
RAVENS’ JACKSON, PETERS RETURN TO PRACTICE >>
Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson was back on the field after he missed the previous two practices with a reported groin injury. After practice on Sunday, coach John Harbaugh declined to discuss the injury in detail, describing it simply as a “soft tissue” issue.
Also Monday, cornerback Marcus Peters returned to practice. He also missed two practices with what Harbaugh called a soft tissue injury.
CARDINALS RB DRAKE IN WALKING BOOT AS ‘PRECAUTION’ >>
Arizona Cardinals running back Kenyan Drake is sidelined by a foot injury and wearing a walking boot, but head coach Kliff Kingsbury said that the medical footwear is merely a precaution.
Kingsbury would not discuss details of the injury and declined to comment on whether the injury could impact Drake’s status for Week 1 in less than three weeks.
DOLPHINS PLAN TO INCLUDE 13K FANS AT HOME OPENER >>
A maximum of 13,000 fans will be allowed at Hard Rock Stadium for the Miami Dolphins’ home game on Sept. 20 against the Buffalo Bills. Socially distanced clusters of seats and required masks are among the precautions the team announced Monday.