COVID-19 Affecting Arizona Cardinals

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has continued to affect the National Football League, and this time it appears that the Arizona Cardinals have been hit hard.

Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury announced on Monday that two players had tested positive over the weekend.

The Cardinals did not play in Week 8 as the team was on its bye week. The players were still expected to report to the team facility each day, and the positive test results came back on Saturday. This comes on the back of struggles in other football leagues across the country,

Kingsbury stated that the team has already conducted its contact tracing, and it appears there were very few players who were affected. On Sunday, all of the tests came back as negative, which is a good sign moving forward for the team.

Arizona will return to the practice field on Monday in preparation for their Week 9 matchup with the Miami Dolphins. As long as there aren’t any other positive tests that pop up throughout the week, Kingsbury and the NFL are confident that this game will go on as scheduled.

Until Saturday, the Arizona Cardinals have had just one player on the reserve/COVID-19 list, and that was wide receiver KeeSean Johnson. The team was prepared to deal with the results of a positive test, and it appears that the protocols worked this time around.

Arizona entered the bye week having won three straight games to improve their record to 5-2. The Cardinals sit in second place in the rugged NFC West Division and are in a playoff position in the National Football Conference.

The league has already had to shift a number of games around due to COVID-19, and there is limited flexibility remaining in the schedule. Kingsbury is confident that testing results later in the week will not show any more positive results.

Humphrey Tests Positive For Ravens

An even bigger issue facing the NFL is the positive result for Baltimore Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey. Humphrey played in every defensive snap in the Ravens 28-24 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, and it’s unclear how many other players might be affected.

Teams do not have to announce the names of any player that tests positive for COVID-19, but the All-Pro cornerback made the announcement himself on his Twitter page. Humphrey has already started the process of self-quarantine, and contact tracing is now being conducted by the Ravens and the National Football League.

The Pittsburgh Steelers announced that all of their COVID-19 tests came back negative on Monday, but that doesn’t mean that the team is in the clear. There is a window in which the virus can still pop up, and the Steelers will be monitored closely throughout the week as well.

This is the first time that the Baltimore Ravens have had a player test positive for COVID-19 during the 2020 season. Humphrey missed a practice earlier this week due to illness but was able to return to practice on Thursday and Friday leading up to this game.

Come and follow us over on Twitter @Gamble_usa for more legal sports betting news across the US.

Relevant news