Fourteen players and Coach Kevin Stefanski reported positive coronavirus tests, threatening the team’s availability for Saturday’s game and the N.F.L.’s ability to keep the schedule on track.
After a single-day high number of confirmed positive coronavirus tests among N.F.L. players on Monday, the spike has hit one team particularly hard. The Cleveland Browns placed 14 players, including quarterback Baker Mayfield, on the Covid-19 list on Tuesday and Wednesday, an outbreak that has threatened the team’s availability for Saturday’s game against the Las Vegas Raiders and highlighted the difficulty of containing the virus while also trying to keep the N.F.L. schedule on track. The cluster of cases on the Browns is part of a nationwide surge that has also affected N.B.A. and N.H.L. organizations despite their high vaccination rates and has made sports leagues reconsider their protocols. Over 94 percent of N.F.L. players are inoculated, according to the league. Coach Kevin Stefanski tested positive, the team announced Wednesday, adding that he would work virtually ahead of Cleveland’s game against the Raiders. Under N.F.L. protocols, Stefanski, like all vaccinated players and staff members, can return once he produces two negative tests 24 hours apart and shows no symptoms.
