Kansas City Chiefs rookies must take COVID-19 test on Monday

Rookies for the Kansas City Chiefs must take COVID-19 tests on Monday.

Rookies hoping to make the active rosters for both the Kansas City Chiefs and Houston Texans were set to report to training camp on Monday. As the first few NFL players matriculate into training camps all across the country, the Chiefs and Texans find themselves being the first to test their own roster on safety protocols against COVID-19.

According to NFL reporter Tom Pelissero, rookies will report only to be tested for the coronavirus and then they will go home. From there, they will repeat the same test on Tuesday and wait for results. If both results are negative, then they are officially cleared to begin their NFL careers. 

The NFL is still negotiating league-wide protocols and conditions for player safety when it comes to stopping the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, and several players took to Twitter over the weekend to express their concerns, including Chiefs players like safety Tyrann Mathieu, linebacker Anthony Hitchens, and quarterback Patrick Mahomes. Yet that didn’t stop the league from mandating report dates for rookies.

The Chiefs recently came to verbal agreement on contracts for each of the team’s six drafted rookies, which means everyone should be able to comply with the report date. Fortunately, head coach Andy Reid recently spoke to reporters about the measures taken by the Chiefs franchise with confidence.

"“Obviously, it’s contact sport. But when we’re not in contact, we’re going to keep our social distance when we’re not playing. We have all that set up, we’re going to have our masks set up and do all the things and wash our hands, do all those fundamental things. We’re going to stay on top of that.”"

The Texans and Chiefs are set to kick off the NFL season on primetime on Thursday Night Football on September 10.