Browns: Team won’t be as affected by current COVID issues as before

The Cleveland Browns have found out that Andrew Sendejo, Karl Joseph, and Harrison Bryant have been placed on the COVID list on Tuesday.

The Cleveland Browns have found out that Karl Joseph, Harrison Bryant, and Andrew Sendejo have been placed on the COVID-19 list reserve list ahead of their game on Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Bryant didn’t test positive but was in close contact with someone who did, while Joseph is expected to be ready to play Sunday, as is Bryant. The only one who is out for Sunday is Sendejo.

This isn’t the first time that Browns players have been on the COVID list before a game, and is vastly different of a scenario than what just happened on Saturday of last week, where all four of the Browns top receivers were ruled out due to close contact with someone who ended up being positive. None of the four, KhaDarle Hodge, Donovan Peoples-Jones, Jarvis Landry, or Rashard Higgins tested positive that we’re aware of. All four were yanked from the game just about 24 hours before kick-off.

This is a vastly different scenario and shouldn’t affect this team the same way that the last round of close-contact concerns did.

This time it’s two safeties, and a tight end, and not all at one position. Secondly, none of those four receivers were allowed to play. This time two of the three are expected to be available. Thirdly, it didn’t’ have 12 hours before the game’s walk-through. It happened on Tuesday, allowing ample time for backups to be properly prepared.

This isn’t a sign that the sky is falling. This type of thing has happened before to the Browns, and even to other NFL teams. The issue with last week was the severity of the numbers at a single position, which was amplified with injuries to the offensive line. Those two factors working in conjunction made for a doomsday type of scenario.

The Browns, ultimately, will be without Sendejo. A loss in his own right, but it’s not like the top six defensive backs all went down at the same time. So there needs to be some perspective here. This isn’t a full-blown outbreak, it’s a contact tracing measure to prevent an outbreak.

So take a deep breath. Better today than on Saturday night.