Yesterday the Pittsburgh Steelers held a nighttime practice at Heinz Field, and seven players were held out of practice. While head coach Mike Tomlin said the session resulted in “quality work” getting done, four players were injured, including long-snapper Kam Canaday.
After practice Tomlin held a virtual press conference, during which he said:
“We had a number of guys that we held out of work or missed work today because they’re caught up in COVID proceedings or procedures. No one to mention at this time in terms of being on the COVID list, but they are in the procedure and we’re going to exercise all precaution like we normally do and make sure that we adhere to it to the fullest. I’ll have a further update, I’m sure, on the status of those guys the next time we come back.”
Statement From Steelers General Manager Kevin Colbert
Now we have that update, courtesy of general manager Kevin Colbert, who issued a statement on Sunday, saying: “On Saturday, we had six players absent from practice due to our adherence to NFL COVID-19 protocol. None of those players were required to be placed on Reserve/COVID-19 and will be returning to meetings today and practice on Monday.”
The players who were held out of practice on Saturday were: offensive guard David DeCastro, safety Terrell Edmunds, wide receiver Diontae Johnson, running back James Conner, offensive guard Kevin Dotson, defensive end Stephon Tuitt, and center Maurkice Pouncey, the latter of whom Tomlin said missed practice due to “personal reasons.” Some of the above players are also known to be nursing injuries, including Dotson, who recently suffered a knee injury.
Statement From The NFL
In addition to the statement from Colbert, the NFL also released a statement, which said:
“Saturday’s daily COVID testing returned several positives tests from each of the clubs serviced by the same laboratory in New Jersey. We are working with our testing partner, BioReference, to investigate these results, while the clubs work to confirm or rule out the positive tests. Clubs are taking immediate precautionary measures as outlined in the NFL-NFLPA’s health and safety protocols to include contact tracing, isolation of individuals and temporarily adjusting the schedule, where appropriate. The other laboratories used for NFL testing have not had similar results.”
The NFL has indicated that the five other impacted teams are the Cleveland Browns, Minnesota Vikings, Chicago Bears, New York Jets and Buffalo Bills.
Separately, the NFL recently announced that it had created a eight-member commission of former players, coaches and executives to advise Commissioner Goodell on COVID-19 related matters. Former Steelers safety Troy Polamalu is one of three former players who are a part of that advisory committee.
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Steelers, 5 Other Teams Affected By COVID-19 ‘Testing Irregularities’