Rams Place Three Players on COVID-19 List
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) - The Los Angeles Rams have placed three players on the reserve/COVID-19 List, bringing their total number of players currently on that list to 16 in the last week.
The three most recent players are linebacker Justin Hollins and tight ends Jared Pinkney and Johnny Mundt.
On Tuesday, the team placed nine players on the list, the most by a team on one day thus far this season. Those players are wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr., defensive backs Jordan Fuller, Terrell Burgess, JuJu Hughes and Tyler Hall, defensive linemen Jonah Williams and Sebastian Joseph-Day, tight end Brycen Hopkins and offensive linemen Alaric Jackson.
They also removed tight end Tyler Higbee from the list, after receiving word that his placement on the list was following a false positive test. Higbee was forced to miss Monday evening's game against the Arizona Cardinals due to the incident. However, defensive backs Jalen Ramsey and Donte Deavon, running back Darrell Henderson and offensive lineman Rob Havenstein, all of whom were placed on the list prior the Monday's game, still remain inactive.
The Rams are not the only team getting hit hard with a COVID outbreak; the across-town Chargers have placed several players on the list in recent weeks including wide receivers Keenan Allen and Mike Williams, offensive linemen Rashawn Slater and Scott Quessenberry and defensive back Chris Harris Jr. The Chargers have seen many players on their roster spend time on the reserve/COVID-19 List throughout the season.
Williams and Harris (close contacts of Allen) were activated from the list ahead of Week 14 as they reported two negative tests each. While Allen (spent 10 days on the list) was activated on Wednesday, after spending at least 10 days on the reserve/COVID-19 list.
On Monday, 37 different players across the league tested positive for COVID-19, the highest mark since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020. 25 more players tested positive in on Tuesday.
A much larger amount of players could find themselves on the lists in coming days, as both players with positive tests or players who are deemed to have been in close contact with anyone who tested positive are required to be placed on the list.
Only five of the 32 NFL teams had at least one player on reserve/COVID-19 lists, while 19 of those teams had more than one player on the list.
It is unclear whether any of the players currently on the list for the Rams will be available for Sunday's game against the Seattle Seahawks. NFL rules require that vaccinated players must return two negative tests at least 24 hours apart to return to play, while unvaccinated players must remain isolated for at least 10 days, as long as symptoms do not persist.