On Friday, FOX Sports’ Jay Glazer was the first to report that Arizona Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury has tested positive for COVID and will miss Sunday’s game against the Cleveland Browns. ESPN’s Adam Schefter added that quarterbacks coach Cam Turner and defensive lineman Zach Allen also tested positive on Friday. On Tuesday, star pass-rusher Chandler Jones was placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list due to a positive test. Kingsbury had said this week that Jones had some symptoms, and that it would be a stretch for Jones to play in Week 6.
“It’s just the way it goes,” Kingsbury said Wednesday. “We’ve been fully vaccinated now for a while. Unfortunate, particularly for Chandler , who’s really been playing at a high-level. Hopefully he can get well-rested and be back by next week’s game. We’ll see how it plays out.”
Per multiple reports, defensive coordinator Vance Joseph and assistant head coach/special teams coordinator Jeff Rodgers will split Kingsbury’s and Turner’s duties.
“Guys just try to mask up and we have the test to make sure that guys are good to go,” right tackle Kelvin Beachum said this week. “We just try to do everything to make sure we’re safe. It’s unfortunate to have somebody of his caliber test positive at this junction in the season, having the type of season that he’s having, but as a team we’ve just got to find a way to stay safe and make sure that we don’t have any spreading going on in the locker room and in the building.”
The Browns are familiar with this issue — on January 10, they beat the Steelers in the wild-card round of the 2020 playoffs despite the absences of head coach Kevin Stefanski, left guard Joel Bitonio, and cornerback Denzel Ward — all of whom had tested positive. The 5-0 Cardinals are trying to maintain their status at the NFL’s only undefeated team.
