The New Orleans Saints placed starting wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders on the COVID-19 reserve list Friday after he recorded a positive test result, which Saints coach Sean Payton confirmed was a true positive after retesting.
At this point only one of Sanders’ teammates will be joining him on the reserve list: cornerback Ken Crawley, who was within close proximity to Sanders during Thursday’s practice. Payton clarified that Crawley has tested negative, but he has a health condition putting him within a high-risk category. So he’ll be away from the team out of an abundance of caution, in compliance with NFL protocols.
Additionally, the Saints used contact tracing to identify about 20 other players, coaches, and staff members who near Sanders over the last day, and Payton said that all of their test results were negative. So for now, there aren’t any concerns about an outbreak. This was something Sanders picked up at home.
It’s a big challenge to overcome. The Saints were already shorthanded at receiver — starter Michael Thomas and backup Bennie Fowler each missed practice time with injuries, and could also be unavailable against the Carolina Panthers this week — but this is going to happen with playing a high-contact, team sport like football during a public health crisis.
“It’s just 2020,” Payton finished at his Friday media conference call before taking the next question.
