CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – The Browns preparations for their most important game to be played by the team in over a decade were put on hold for a few hours Wednesday.
The organization was once again forced to temporarily close their Berea, Ohio training facility Wednesday morning after a player and staff member tested positive for COVID-19 but the team was cleared to practice by the NFL once contact tracing was completed.
The facility opened around 3:30 Wednesday afternoon and the team practiced an hour later as they began preparations to face the Steelers in the regular season finale with a playoff berth on the line.
“We have done it so much that I do not think it even makes us bat an eye at this point,” Browns center and NFLPA president JC Tretter said. “We have moved our schedule around and we have kind of had to hurry up and wait to where we know we are going to come in but we don’t know when and you are kind of sitting around the house. We have done that quite a bit now. I do not think it even phases guys at this point in the season.”
Head coach Kevin Stefanski declined to provide specifics about the situation Wednesday but he did confirm that an assistant coach and member of the practice squad tested positive.
“The hope is to still get on the field at some point today, but we do not know exactly when that will be,” Stefanski said. “We had our meetings virtually this morning. We will continue in the early afternoon with meetings and then really just stay tuned to see if we can get out there on the field with the whole team or either side of the ball, which is something we have done before.”
The Browns placed center Javon Patterson on practice squad/COVID-19 Wednesday while activating receiver Ryan Switzer from the same list.
“The No. 1 thing obviously throughout this whole year has been the player safety and safety of the staff,” Stefanski said.
It is a drill the Browns have become familiar with, but it doesn't make it any more less mentally taxing according to quarterback Baker Mayfield.
“These days can be pretty exhausting – the schedule changes and not exactly knowing when you are supposed to come in and get the practice in and the workouts in so you just kind of have to stay by your phone, as they tell us to do, and just be alert for it,” Mayfield said. “We can’t do anything about it so there is no reason to complain. You roll with the punches and have to deal with it. We are not the only ones having to deal with adjustments.”
Linebacker B.J. Goodson tested positive late last week resulting in five players – Jarvis Landry, Rashard Higgins, Donovan Peoples-Jones, KhaDarel Hodge and Jacob Phillips all being identified as high-risk close contacts and unable to play in last week’s 23-16 loss to the Jets.
On Monday, Stefanski said he anticipated Landry, Higgins, Peoples-Jones, Hodge and Phillips would all be eligible to return Thursday and play against the Steelers should they continue to test negative.
The Browns placed three players on the Reserve/COVID-19 list – tight end Harrison Bryant as well as safeties Karl Joseph and Andrew Sendejo – Tuesday.
Sendejo will not be available Sunday but Bryant and Joseph were identified as high-risk close contacts a league source told 92.3 The Fan and both players could return in time to face the Steelers should they continue to test negative.
“The good thing about today is we had extended [virtual] meetings, which is what they participate in,” Tretter said. “They are all Zoom meetings so you get more time in the classroom and more time to learn the gameplan. They would not have been able to be on the field so you have longer meetings instead, and they are able to learn and pick up all of the information we would have done during a walkthrough or during a longer practice. You can twist that into a positive.”
The key positive in the Browns recent rise of virus list additions is that there is no outbreak within the team, unlike situations that occurred earlier this year with the Titans and Ravens.
“As we have seen right now, we have not seen an example of cases being transmitted within our facility here,” Tretter said.
The wave of COVID-19 roster moves couldn't come at a worse time for a franchise that is trying to qualify for the playoffs for the first time since the 2002 season.
“You do not want to have these at any point,” Stefanski said. “I want our guys to be healthy and safe, but we will deal with this as it comes our way. That is what today looks like, and we will be ready to get our work in however it is. I told the guys this morning, we are going to work. Whether it is on the field or virtual, we will work. Same thing tomorrow. We will just take it as each day comes.”
Wednesday was just another familiar bump in the road.
“That is 2020,” Stefanski said. “I think we are all prepared to adapt as necessary, really just take this thing day by day and figure out a way to make sure that we are getting our work in.”
