The news on Tuesday seemed to indicate that the Tennessee Titans were in the clear and set to play in Week 5 against the Buffalo Bills.
However, Wednesday brought a new unpleasant surprise: another Titans player had tested positive, according to ESPN's Dianna Russini.
NFL Network's Tom Pelissero added that a second player's test had also come back positive. This would seem to put the Titans-Bills game in jeopardy, seeing as the Titans will be unable to reopen their facilities until everyone is clear.
The news comes the same day that the Patriots, who did go through with their Week 4 contest, had star cornerback Stephon Gilmore test positive for coronavirus.
"There are no positive tests as we speak," says Bills Coach Sean McDermott. He says he's monitoring the possibility of Sunday's game not being played. "Certainly it's a situation we take seriously. There is also a human side and making sure everyone is healthy, and here with the Bills that is our number one goal."
McDermott says because of the nature of the Titans' situation, it's important he and the Bills focus on what they can control, and doing the right things with protocols right up to Sunday's scheduled game. He says concerns about playing the game on Sunday are real. "That's a real situation and we are monitoring as closely as we can from here, and we've had to be responsible and continue to gather information to put the health and well being of people in our building at the top of the priority list," says McDermott.
The Patriots played against the Chiefs in Week 4 and were slated to face off with the Broncos on Sunday afternoon in Week 5. Pelissero also reported that no Chiefs tested positive from their round of testing on Tuesday, though they will absolutely be a team to watch after their Monday night contest against Gilmore and the Patriots.
A third team, the Las Vegas Raiders, had a player test positive on Wednesday morning as well.
Las Vegas just came off a Week 4 matchup with the Buffalo Bills and received a lot of media criticism -- and fines from the league -- after several players were seen at an event with fans without any masks or other PPE. In total, 10 players were fined for a total of $165,000, which added another instance of COVID-19 protocol violations to what the Raiders had already been under fire for (via NFL.com).
All of these positive tests would seem to put not only the teams' respective games in jeopardy, but the football season as a whole if it continues to spread.
Late Tuesday night, NFL Network's Ian Rapoport shared a memo that was distributed by the NFL to all the teams regarding updated, more restrictive COVID-19 protocols. The changes include increase surveillance, revised testing protocols and more.
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