Many sports teams are in the middle of a COVID outbreak but the Cleveland Browns are arguably being impacted the worst. As of Thursday night, a total of 20 Browns players are out due to being in COVID protocols.
Despite over a third of the active roster sidelined, the Browns are still set to play the Las Vegas Raiders on Saturday. This didn’t sit well with starting quarterback Baker Mayfield, who is currently out due to a positive COVID test, and he went after the NFL via Twitter about them changing protocols and as well as not postponing Saturday’s game due to so many positive tests.
@NFL Make up your damn mind on protocols. Showing up and making only 3 teams test?!? All so you can keep the game as scheduled to make money.
— Baker Mayfield (@bakermayfield) December 16, 2021
Tell me if this makes sense…. No tests this morning… then let our team gather for practice… then show up after practice to test them. Something seems off here.
— Baker Mayfield (@bakermayfield) December 16, 2021
Obviously, Mayfield has an interest in getting the game postponed. The elephant in the room is that the Browns are most likely to get trounced due to so many players out so Mayfield wants the game postponed so they can be more competitive. That being said, Mayfield still has a point that postponing the game may be the right call. When the Baltimore Ravens had their outbreak last year and that caused their game against the Pittsburgh Steelers to be postponed for six days, they had “up to 20 players” under COVID protocol at that time. Granted, that was before there was a vaccine and it was way more cautious because of that, but given we’re on various variants of the virus that also affect vaccinated people, maybe making a team play with so many people out isn’t the greatest idea.
The NFL Players Association is backing Mayfield as it was reported by Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio that “the NFLPA is currently pushing aggressively” to postpone the Browns game. In addition, some want things shut down entirely and push the season forward by a week.
Also, the NFLPA is currently pushing aggressively for a postponement of the Raiders-Browns game on Saturday. Some in the union believe the entire season should shut down for a week. The union is concerned about player safety and game integrity.
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) December 16, 2021
Will the Browns play on Saturday? Will the season be postponed? It remains to be seen.
