One day after the Las Vegas Raiders sent their entire starting offensive line home for the day, all five are now on the team’s Reserve/COVID-19 list, multiple outlets reported Thursday.
In addition, safety Johnathan Abram also was placed on the list for high-risk contact. Starting right tackle Trent Brown was the first lineman to go on the list Wednesday. That prompted the Raiders to play it safe and send home the rest of the line. Now, left tackle Kolton Miller, left guard Denzelle Good, center Rodney Hudson and right guard Gabe Jackson all were added to the COVID list because they were deemed high risk for their close proximity to Brown.
Players who are on the list for contact tracing must quarantine five full days. Since the remainder of the offensive line last had contact with Brown on Monday, according to an ESPN report, there is a chance the four added to the list Thursday could be cleared after testing Sunday morning, mere hours before their home game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The NFL already has moved that game out of prime time on Sunday night and changed it to a 4:25 p.m. EST start. By moving the game between the Seattle Seahawks and Arizona Cardinals into prime time, the league now has the flexibility to postpone Sunday’s Buccaneers-Raiders game without leaving a void in the national-television schedule.
Reports also indicated Thursday that the NFL and the NFL Players Association will investigate the Raiders for how they have handled multiple COVID-19 issues this season. Among the Raiders’ issues have been fines for head coach John Gruden for mask usage that did not meet league guidelines. There also were fines for players for attending a fundraiser without masks. Another fine came for outside access to the locker room that violated NFL protocols.
The Raiders now have just five offensive linemen left on their 53-man roster, although they do have two linemen on the practice squad. Teams must have at least eight offensive linemen on their active roster for each game.
–Field Level Media ()