The Green Bay Packers have managed to stay afloat despite a slew of injuries across key positions, but their roster will face an even greater test as COVID-19 ravages NFL locker rooms and makes its late-season push.
According to ESPN insider Adam Schefter, last season saw 262 positive COVID tests from players from the start of the regular season to the Super Bowl. The NFL was still learning how to exist in the middle of a global pandemic, and there wasn’t a widely available vaccine.
Although most of the league is vaccinated, there were over 400 positive tests in December 2021 alone. CBS’s Jason La Canfora reported that, according to the league, most players testing positive are vaccinated and showing very mild symptoms.
Regardless, many players are unable to play in games with playoff implications, and a locker room outbreak can be the difference between making the postseason or not. The Omicron variant of the virus is spreading wildly as the season reaches its final act. With input from the NFL Players’ Association, the league is doing what it can to adapt its testing methodology and keep the season moving. It seems that a team’s safety practices and luck may be two of the most critical factors to playoff success.
Via the CBS Sports COVID-19 tracker, all 32 teams have at least one active roster player on the COVID/Reserve list. Some teams, like the Indianapolis Colts, Houston Texans, and the New York Jets, have close to 20 players on the list. The Colts are fighting for an AFC playoff spot and lost QB Carson Wentz to the list. As an unvaccinated player, his road back to the roster will be longer. Even with reasonably easy competition in the next two weeks, Indianapolis’ path to the postseason will be challenging.
On Tuesday, NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reported that the standard isolation period would drop from ten days to five.
But even if most of a team can avoid catching the virus, it can still impact players your team can’t afford to lose. The Packers boast one of the most-vaccinated teams in the NFL, but quarterback Aaron Rodgers is not vaccinated and missed a game on the COVID list. Despite a stellar performance from the defense, Green Bay fell to a team they probably should have beaten. In the end, the loss was to an AFC opponent and didn’t tilt the scales too far. But it shows that the timing and players affected can be the difference between a win and a loss.
The spread can be immediate or slowly linger in a locker room. The Cleveland Browns experienced a massive spread before their rescheduled Week 15 game against the Las Vegas Raiders. The Browns were forced to play a skeleton crew against Vegas and lost a winnable game, and Cleveland still wasn’t fully recovered when they faced Green Bay on Christmas Day. Thankfully for the Browns, if they make the postseason, many of their players won’t need to test, thanks to the NFL’s testing protocol rules.
The Packers have been in the opposite situation. While they haven’t had a massive outbreak, they’ve had a handful of players on the reserve list every week, including some star players like Aaron Rodgers, Davante Adams, Allen Lazard, Kenny Clark, and Marquez Valdes-Scantling. They hope these players are completely recovered and won’t miss any more time, but the team isn’t out of the woods yet.
On Monday, Green Bay placed G Ben Braden, LB Tipa Galeai, WR Amari Rodgers, and LB Ty Summers on the reserve/COVID-19 list. They join MVS, Kevin King, and Shemar Jean-Charles. Tuesday saw even more players added to the list, with TE Marcedes Lewis and LB Oren Burks added. On Wednesday, LaFleur said more additions were coming. The virus is starting to affect starters and work its way through already-diminished position groups.
In the wake of the spread, Matt LaFleur made all meetings virtual, and the team would only come together for actual practice. In his Monday press conference, he mentioned how availability is essential with Green Bay in contention. LaFleur also told reporters the team is bringing in players for workouts so that the roster won’t be in danger if a specific position group has a particularly bad contagion.
With only two weeks left in the season, teams need to be prepared for the worst and have contingency plans available. The lone conference bye week is even more important as a chance for recovery.
Usually, we’d worry about whether the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ or Dallas Cowboys’ defense is a worse matchup for the Packers’ offense or if special teams will blow a playoff game. But now availability might be the most significant factor. On paper, a healthy Buccaneers defense scares me more than any other team, but I’d take a battered Bucs defense over a healthy defense from any other team.
Luck and availability will be the keys that ultimately decide this year’s Super Bowl winner, it seems. Stay safe out there.
Due to the nature of the pandemic and the NFL’s attempt to create the best practices, the rules surrounding the reserve/COVID list and the players on it may change after this writing.
