There’s been a massive outbreak of COVID-19 cases through the NFL this week and the Jets aren’t immune.
Rookie wide receiver Elijah Moore, who was already on IR because of a quad injury, landed on the COVID-19 reserved list Thursday. Linebacker Hamsah Nasirildeen and special team captain Justin Hardee landed on the list, too.
The Jets, for now, haven’t been ravished by COVID like the Browns, Rams and Washington who have 20 or more players in protocols.
The Browns lost their starting and backup quarterbacks in Baker Mayfield and Case Keenum. Now they’ll likely face the Las Vegas Raiders with Nick Mullens under center on Saturday.
The Rams lost cornerback Jalen Ramsey, Odell Beckham and Von Miller as they prepared to play the Seahawks.
Robert Saleh saw the trend of cases across the league last week and decided to go virtual with meetings for precautionary reasons as they prepared for the Miami Dolphins. Saleh hasn’t allowed the team to gather together outside of practice.
“Yeah, with what happened, you know, it’s around the league right now, you saw what happened with the Detroit Lions, you saw it happen with us with Austin Walter having to check out right before the game,” the Jets head coach said Monday. “Ronny Blair had to check out before the game with bad illnesses. So, we decided to go virtual. So, all meetings are being done at home, but we’ll still have our lifts, we’ll still have our practices and walkthroughs in person and all that stuff, but as far as stuffing everybody into a meeting room where we could spread the virus, we’re just keeping them virtual for now.”
Outside of practice, the Jets won’t be together as a team until they travel to Miami, according to Saleh.
The Jets are facing the Dolphins, who are dealing with a rash of cases. Their leading receiver Jaylen Waddle was placed in the coronavirus protocol Thursday and might miss Sunday’s matchup.
The majority of the Dolphins running back room is dealing with COVID, too. Myles Gaskin, Salvon Ahmed and Phillip Lindsay and Gerrid Doaks are on the reserve/COVID-19. Duke Johnson is the only running back not in the protocol.
The Dolphins secondary was also hit as their starting safety Jevon Holland was placed on the list.