Odell Beckham Jr. joins growing list of Rams on COVID list as team shuts down facility
A day after beating the Arizona Cardinals on Monday night, the Los Angeles Rams placed wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. and several others on a growing list of players on the NFL's reserve/COVID-19 list.
Beckham joins five Rams who missed Monday's game against the Cardinals. Cornerback Jalen Ramsey and tight end Tyler Higbee were placed on the list on gameday. Running back Darrell Henderson, cornerback Donte Deayon and offensive lineman Rob Havenstein were previously placed on the list. The Rams also placed defensive backs Terrell Burgess, Juju Hughes, Jordan Fuller and Tyler Hall, tight end Brycen Hopkins, offensive tackle Alaric Jackson, and defensive linemen Jonah Williams and Sebastian Joseph-Day on the list on Tuesday.
They removed Higbee from the list due to a false positive, bringing their total tally to 13 players.
Rams shut down facility
Head coach Sean McVay told reporters that the team shut down its facility Tuesday morning and was operating remotely under intensive protocols. The facility will be closed through Wednesday at the earliest.
"There's going to be more people that are affected by this," McVay said.
COVID hitting teams across the NFL
The Rams aren't alone in the NFL in being hit hard by COVID-19. The league reportedly saw 37 players test positive for COVID-19 on Monday, the highest tally since the onset of the pandemic. That list grew by at least 25 players on Tuesday, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter. As of Tuesday afternoon, 27 of the league's 32 teams had players listed on the reserve/COVID-19 list. Nineteen teams had multiple players on the list.
Like the Rams, the Cleveland Browns are hit particularly hard, with eight players placed on the list as of Tuesday afternoon, including starting wide receiver Jarvis Landry and starting tight end Austin Hooper. The 7-6 Browns are on the outside looking in in a tight race for a wild-card berth in the AFC playoffs. They're scheduled to play the 6-7 Las Vegas Raiders on Saturday.
The Rams improved to 9-4 and are a game behind the 10-3 Cardinals for first place in the NFC West. They're scheduled to play the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday.
Placement on the reserve/COVID-19 list means that a player has either tested positive or is deemed a close contact to someone who has. It's not clear which if any of the players who have tested positive are symptomatic or if the outbreak is connected to the rapidly spreading Omicron variant.
