TEMPE, Ariz. — Arizona Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury will miss Sunday’s game against the Cleveland Browns after testing positive for COVID-19, the team announced Friday night.
Quarterbacks coach Cam Turner and defensive tackle Zach Allen also will miss the game because of positive tests.
Defensive coordinator Vance Joseph and assistant head coach/special teams coordinator Jeff Rodgers will share the head-coaching responsibilities Sunday.
Kingsbury was at practice Friday. He also met with the media indoors in the morning, and was unmasked. The media, which had to be vaccinated to attend, was all masked.
The team hadn’t been notified as of Friday night who will call the plays in place of Kingsbury.
The Cardinals are 100% vaccinated, Kingsbury had previously said, but the team has been dealing with virus-related issues this week.
It put outside linebacker Chandler Jones on the reserve/COVID-19 list, and he has yet to come off it, putting his status for Sunday’s game in doubt.
When discussing Jones’ positive test and how COVID is affecting the Cardinals in 2021, Kingsbury said then: “It’s just the way it goes. We’ve been fully vaccinated now for a while.”
NFC West leader Arizona is the NFL’s lone undefeated team at 5-0.
Joseph has previous head-coaching experience, having led the Denver Broncos in 2017 and 2018.
Kingsbury, meanwhile, isn’t the first head coach to miss a game because of COVID.
Last season, Browns coach Kevin Stefanski missed a wild-card playoff game because of a positive test. Darrell Bevell also missed a game last season as the Detroit Lions‘ interim coach because he was considered a close contact through COVID protocols. Tennessee Titans coach Mike Vrabel tested positive for COVID-19 during training camp this year, and former Philadelphia Eagles coach Doug Pederson tested positive in training camp last year.
