Cleveland Browns at disadvantage with roster decimated by positive tests

After fighting their way back into playoff conversations, the Cleveland Browns are now hit with eight positive COVID tests and could be undermanned.

Just when you think the Cleveland Browns are back in the mix, the worst thing possible seems to happen. Nothing is new this week as an outbreak of COVID-19 has hit the Cleveland Browns.

On Tuesday, eight players (4 starters, and 1 role player) were added to the reserve/COVID19 list.

The biggest names; Jarvis Landry, Jedrick Wills, Austin Hooper, and Wyatt Teller who are all offensive starters. Takk McKinley is the third defensive end and gets a lot of crucial snaps along with Drew Forbes, JoJo Natson, and Ross Travis who are less involved in the offense.

At this point, it appears that all of these are positive tests, meaning that there were no close contacts that would give them a better chance of playing on Saturday. It’s still unclear who is vaccinated and who isn’t as the test-out protocols are different.

At this point, the NFL has yet to weigh in, but there could be a chance of delaying this game until Sunday, Monday, or even Tuesday if they feel the Cleveland Browns are at a true disadvantage.

Once again it feels like the Browns can’t catch a break, but it must be the next-man-up mentality. I truly don’t expect the NFL to make any changes, so guys like Donovan Peoples-Jones, James Hudson, and Blake Hance better be ready to go.

The one big question will the Browns have any of their three tight ends available. The belief is David Njoku should be able to return after being on the COVID19 list last week, but who knows how many snaps he will play.

No matter who the Browns have available, they must win this game vs. the Las Vegas Raiders on Saturday. Worth noting, Kareem Hunt and Troy Hill seem unlikely to play after suffering injuries last Sunday.