The Chiefs are going to face greater COVID-19 concerns than normal over the course of their bye week.
Every team is already doing everything they can on a number of fronts in order to stave off the diagnosis and spread of COVID-19 for every member of the organization—from staff to coaches and players to trainers. Things are only going to get a bit more difficult now that the bye week has arrived for the Kansas City Chiefs.
It’s a testament to the National Football League’s level of preparedness that they’ve been able to get through Week 9 on the schedule without much interruption. Yes, some games have been rescheduled and some players have missed games—on Sunday the Miami Dolphins were without five assistant coaches against the Arizona Cardinals, for example—but given the level of doubts that any American sports league could pull off something so daunting, it’s amazing that the NFL is moving forward as well as it is.
That said, there’s still a lot of regular season left with an entire postseason to go as well for the league. And all of it is happening at the very point where the virus is raging out of control at its highest levels yet.
The Chiefs have been affected from multiple angles by the coronavirus so far in 2020. Running back Damien Williams and offensive linemen Laurent Duvernay-Tardif and Lucas Niang all opted out before the season began. From there, developmental quarterback Jordan Ta’amu tested positive for the virus before Week 4, which along with the positive test for quarterback Cam Newton, led to a rescheduled date for the team’s game against the New England Patriots.
More recently, fullback Anthony Sherman was lost for a couple weeks due to being placed on the COVID/reserve list, and this week, head trainer Rick Burkholder tested positive for COVID-19 as well. That led to the Chiefs placing defensive tackle Chris Jones on the reserve list as well for a day before he was cleared to return in time to face the Carolina Panthers.
Fortunately, the team hasn’t lost much of their competitive edge to the virus, but that sentiment could have quickly turned in the last day or two. Let’s say that Jones was forced to sit several days to quarantine and make sure he was not a carrier of the coronavirus. It’s very possible the Chiefs actually lose that close game without Jones’ disruptive presence up front. At that point, COVID-19 would be an even bigger concern.
This is important because the bye week is here for the Chiefs and players are going to have more free time than ever before. The Chiefs are aware of this, however, and have put some measures in place.
Andy Reid says players won't be traveling for the bye week, they will stay in Kansas City so they can continue their daily testing.
— Matt Derrick (@mattderrick) November 9, 2020
The daily testing is going to be important, but given the spread of the virus and the freedom of players over the next week, it shouldn’t surprise anyone if we hear about one or more members of the Chiefs organization testing positive for COVID-19 sometime over the next couple weeks. It’s just the nature of so many players, coaches, and staff members being exposed to so many unpredictable variables—no matter what precautions are taken ahead of time.