The rapid resurgence of COVID-19 through the NFL has not spared the Giants.
The team placed five more players on the league’s COVID-19 reserve list Wednesday afternoon, raising their total to six since Monday: wideouts Kadarius Toney and John Ross, corner Aaron Robinson (unvaccinated), free safety Xavier McKinney (unvaccinated), and outside linebackers Cam Brown and Oshane Ximines.
Five were due to positive tests. McKinney is a high-risk close contact. Robinson, who has started at outside corner the last two weeks, is out for Sunday’s game against the Dallas Cowboys.
“It seems like it’s never going away,” co-owner John Mara told reporters while discussing the virus at the league’s owners meetings in Dallas.
Joe Judge’s team will conduct meetings virtually on Thursday after self-imposing intensive protocols on Wednesday, including mandatory masks in the facility and social distancing.
The coach said he would speak with his captains about handling meetings at least partially virtual “the remainder of the week” and would still holding practices outside.
“We’ve done that in the past and it has worked smoothly,” Judge said.
The Giants’ rash of COVID cases is still nothing compared to the outbreak occurring league-wide, which experts have attributed to the new Omicron variant, per NFL Network.
The NFL had seven teams in enhanced COVID protocols as of Wednesday morning due to outbreaks — the Cleveland Browns, Chicago Bears, Atlanta Falcons, Detroit Lions, L.A. Rams, Minnesota Vikings and Washington Football Team.
Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski and quarterback Baker Mayfield both were revealed as positive tests on Wednesday. Washington’s team has 17 total players on the COVID reserve list.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said the league is not considering postponing Saturday’s scheduled game between the Browns and Las Vegas Raiders.
“We feel confident with continuing changes and adaptations to our protocols we can do that,” Goodell said.
But there is a lot for teams and the league to worry about down the stretch, including unvaccinated starting quarterbacks such as the Packers’ Aaron Rodgers and the Bills’ Josh Allen, who could wreck their team’s playoff chances at a moment’s notice with a positive test.
One of the protocol tweaks the league and NFL Players Association reportedly are considering is to allow vaccinated, asymptomatic players to return to team activities sooner after a positive test.
The NFL also announced new roster flexibility for the postseason. The league will allow unlimited player promotions from the practice squad to active rosters in the postseason. It will no longer be capped at two promotions per player per season.
That way teams will be able to replace players on their roster who are sidelined by the virus last minute.
All ideas are on the table following 66 positive tests league-wide between Monday and Tuesday, including a daily record of 37 on Monday. There were 27 more players placed on the COVID reserve list Wednesday.
This represents a dramatic spike. From Sept. 5 through Nov. 27, the NFL reported 110 total player positives by comparison, per ESPN.
“It’s like, ‘Oh, there’s another one, and there’s another one,” Washington guard Brandon Scherff told reporters of the team’s frequent bad news of late.
“At some point you feel like you are fighting a ghost,” Falcons owner Arthur Blank told reporters. “You don’t know where to swing.”
The league has seen most of the viral spread among players generate from their communities, meaning outside of the team’s facilities.
Part of the problem is many of these young players are going out and living their lives normally in the middle of a pandemic.
Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott was asked Wednesday if he would reconsider attending a Mavericks-Lakers game in the wake of recent COVID spikes.
“I’m going to the game tonight,” Elliott told reporters.
The Giants learned of Toney’s positive test on the plane home from California Monday.
The team said McKinney still has a chance to come off the COVID reserve list on Saturday and play against Dallas if he keeps testing negative throughout the week.
It’s likely he was a close contact to Toney dating back to Sunday, because high-risk close contacts are required to isolate for five days after their initial exposure.
Brown practiced with the team on Wednesday because the team only learned about his positive test afterwards.
The only good Giants COVID news came when Judge said quarterbacks coach Jerry Schuplinski and guard Wes Martin had flown home from Tucson, Ariz., to rejoin the team Wednesday.
But the Giants’ goal is the same as the NFL’s simple goal at the moment. In addition to keeping everyone safe, they just want to complete the games on their schedule.