As COVID cases surge across the NFL, the Washington Football Team received some more bad news ahead of their Week 15 game against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Washington placed starting cornerback Kendall Fuller and backup defensive tackle Tim Settle on the reserve/COVID-19 list on Tuesday afternoon.
This news means that the Football Team now has 10 total players on that list. (Not to mention one of their Tier 3 staffers becoming the first person in the NFL to test positive for the Omicron coronavirus variant.) They are as follows:
DT Jonathan Allen
DE Will Bradley-King
CB Kendall Fuller
TE Temarrick Hemingway
LB Khaleke Hudson
LB David Mayo
DT Tim Settle
DE James Smith-Williams
DE Montez Sweat
DE Casey Toohill
Allen, Fuller, and Sweat are the most high-profile names from that group.
Allen, who leads the Football Team in sacks, was placed on the list on Monday. There’s a chance that he (and others) can be activated if they produce two negative COVID tests 24 hours apart. But there’s no guarantee that’ll take place. With Fuller going on the list today, there’s obviously even less time for him to be cleared. UPDATE: Fuller is reportedly unvaccinated, which means he’s DEFINITELY out for at least 10 days, including this week’s game.
There’s a case to be made that Allen and Fuller are Washington’s top two defenders. They’re graded as such by Pro Football Focus, for what it’s worth.
Fuller leads the Football Team in passes defensed this season with 13. He’s allowed just a 91.3 passer rating when targeted.
As for Settle, well, he would’ve been in line for some more playing time with Allen potentially missing this week’s game. There’s a decent chance that’ll no longer be the case.
All told, Washington is getting hit hard by COVID ahead of a key game against the Eagles. Philadelphia is dealing with a potential absence of their own with Quez Watkins (and practice squad member Jason Huntley) going on the list … but their severity clearly doesn’t compare to the Football Team’s issues.
In news related to the Eagles placing Watkins on the COVID list, Philadelphia announced four practice squad protections on Tuesday: John Hightower, Cameron Malveaux, Mac McCain, and Jared Mayden.
Hightower is an obvious candidate to be elevated to the game day roster with Watkins potentially out. In theory, Hightower provides deep threat ability that Watkins provide. In actuality, Hightower has largely struggled whenever he’s seen NFL playing time.
Malveaux received a practice squad protection for the first time all season. Not exactly sure what to make of that but the Eagles felt a need to protect their defensive end depth.
McCain received a protection just one day after rejoining the Eagles via the practice squad this time. They clearly value something about his long-term potential.
Mayden has been elevated to the game day roster in Philly’s past two matchups. He’s ineligible to be elevated a third time unless the Eagles are OK with exposing him to the waiver wire. Then again, the Eagles can claim Mayden is a COVID replacement (if Watkins misses this week’s game) and avoid using a standard elevation on him. So, that might happen.
…
See below for a current look at the Eagles’ 2021 practice squad.
Format: Position, player, (times protected this season), [times elevated this season]*
*Not counting COVID-19 elevations.
WR John Hightower (11) [1]
S Jared Mayden (4) [2]
G/T Kayode Awosika (3)
CB Craig James (3)
TE Noah Togiai (2)
DT Marvin Wilson (2)
TE Richard Rodgers (1) [2]
CB Mac McCain (1)
DE Cameron Malveaux (1)
LB JaCoby Stevens (1)
RB Jason Huntley (reserve/COVID-19 list)
WR KeeSean Johnson
WR Deon Cain
C Luke Juriga
DT Raequan Williams
LB Christian Elliss
{DE Matt Leo — international exemption – doesn’t count towards limit}
