The Cleveland Browns are far from the only team dealing with COVID-19 outbreak issues but they may be the one most affected. Not only do the Browns have a large number of players on their reserve/COVID-19 list but they have a lot of important players including Baker Mayfield, John Johnson III, Jedrick Wills, Wyatt Teller and many others.
The Los Angeles Rams and Washington Football Team are two of other the hard-hit franchises in the NFL.
Despite the increasing cases and impactful players that are likely to miss games in Week 15 and beyond, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell stated that cancellations or postponements are not being discussed:
Roger Goodell on whether the spike in COVID positions would trigger cancellations or postponements: "There has not been any discussion about [postponements] and we will confident in our protocols."
— Jonathan Jones (@jjones9) December 15, 2021
Obviously, things could change if cases continue to increase as the week goes on but, based on the league’s history (except for Baltimore/Pittsburgh last year) and Goodell’s statement, it does not seem likely.
Instead, the Browns and other hard-hit teams have to embrace the “next man up” mentality to an extreme level. The lack of talent is one problem but the lack of depth may be a bigger one for teams this weekend.
