Odell Beckham and Adrian Peterson are part of a curious development. Although the NFL has struggled through a number of setbacks to start the 2020 season, it doubled down on their safety protocols amid the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. This has led to the absence of a few notable players from practices.
Cleveland Browns wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. was among the NFL players who were held out of practice due to flu-like symptoms. Detroit Lions running back Adrian Peterson was also unable to practice due to a non-COVID-19 illness.
NFL chief medical officer Dr. Allen Sills says such course of action will become commonplace moving forward, via Charean Williams of Pro Football Talk:
“I think something you will certainly start to see more of is you will see (NFL) players, coaches and staff who are missing days of practice or possibly even games simply because of symptom reports, not necessarily because of a positive test,” Sills said on a conference call. “We all know we’re going into cold and flu season. There are going to be a lot more sore throats, stuffy noses, coughs that develop. In today’s times, with the situation we’re in, we always have to rule out COVID first in those situations. So when someone reports symptoms, even if they have a negative test that same day, we’re going to hold that individual out of the facility. We’re also going to go ahead and contact trace to see if they have any of those high-risk contacts, and we’re going to pull those folks out of the facility.
“You have seen and will certainly see more instances where (NFL) players, coaches and staff are out of the facility for one or two or three days, possibly even including a game day, because of the report of symptoms.”
Beckham's illness is not believed to be related to COVID-19. Regardless, the NFL is not taking any chances.
Beckham is not the only notable NFL player going through the process. Detroit Lions running back Adrian Peterson was also unable to practice due to a non-COVID-19 illness.
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