The coronavirus is making its way through the NFL weeks after teams reopened their facilities.
NFL Network reported Monday that multiple players on the Dallas Cowboys and Houston Texans tested positive for coronavirus recently, with Cowboys star Ezekiel Elliott being one of the players. The report also said none of the players who tested positive were believed to have been in their team facilities.
Rocky Arceneaux, the 24-year-old Elliott’s agent, told NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport that Elliott “is feeling good” after his coronavirus diagnosis.
NFL players getting COVID-19 evidently was something league officials were expecting.
“A month ago, NFL chief medical officer Dr. Allen Sills said: ‘We fully expect that we will have positive cases that arise. … Our challenge is to identify them as quickly as possible and prevent spread to any other participants,’” Rapoport wrote. “The teams appear to have done that.”
After holding both the NFL Draft and offseason training program virtually because of the global pandemic, the league began allowing facilities to reopen in late May. Aside from coaches and executives, only injured players who currently require rehabilitation are allowed inside facilities.
Training camps are set to officially begin next month, with the NFL mandating that camps must be held at team facilities rather than remote locations like nearby universities. The league is planning to start the 2020 season on time in September.