The head coach of the Tennessee Titans says his team will be ready to take the field as soon as Monday, despite being the first in the NFL to experience a coronavirus outbreak.
Mike Vrabel says the four players who have contracted the coronavirus are experiencing flu-like symptoms. They were tested on Monday.
In a conference call with reporters Wednesday, Vrabel refused to say how the team got the virus.
“You know we’ve evaluated what we’ve done and the protocols, and how we’ve handled the meetings,” he says. “[We’ve] continued to have social distancing in those meetings. And I’m not going to begin to try to understand or track down how a virus would spread.”
Linebacker Kamalei Correa, long snapper Beau Brinkley, nose tackle DeQuan Jones and practice squad tight end Tommy Hudson have been placed on the NFL’s reserve/COVID-19 list.
Five staffers also contracted COVID, including at least one coach. The positive results have led the NFL to postpone Sunday’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers to Monday or Tuesday. It also led the Titans to shut down their practice facility in MetroCenter. Vrabel says he expects it to reopen by the end of the week.
The Titans are the second Nashville sports franchise to have to shut down because of an outbreak. Earlier this summer, several cases among players forced Nashville SC to pull out of a Major League Soccer return-to-play tournament.
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