Dexter Manley, a two-time Super Bowl champ as a defensive end with the Washington Redskins, has been hospitalized and is battling issues related to COVID-19.
The former football star’s daughter, Dalis, told The Washington Post, Dexter Manley went to the hospital Friday and has been receiving oxygen. A person close to Manley’s family said the former all-pro defensive end is “stable and resting comfortably.” The person had spoken to Manley’s doctors, who said Manley “is a big strong guy and is not in imminent danger.”
Dalis Manley described her father as feeling “very weak,” worn down and discouraged after two weeks with persistent fever and shortness of breath. She said he was at a Washington-area hospital and had not been placed on a ventilator as of Saturday afternoon.
“I just think he is scared.” said Dalis Manley, who lives outside Atlanta but has been talking to her father by phone.
He tested positive for the coronavirus May 2 and has steadily run a temperature between 101 and 104 degrees. In recent days, he has had a harder time breathing and struggled with his balance. During a phone call in the middle of last week, she noticed he had trouble speaking.
Toward the end of the week, Manley began coughing at night, his fever worsened, and he felt cold and was shivering. He decided early Friday to go to the hospital. She said doctors told the family that he has pneumonia.
Manley, 61, thinks he contracted the virus one day when he didn’t have his mask but had to stop at a gas station convenience store.
“Dexter is in the hospital, and we are praying for a speedy recovery,” ex-Redskins star Charles Mann, who co-hosts a podcast with Manley, said in a text message to the paper.
Nicknamed “The Secretary of Defense,” Manley had a dazzling 11-year NFL career, winning two Super Bowls with Washington. He also spent time with Phoenix Cardinals and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Manley had 91 sacks in 125 games with Washington – his 91 sacks still stand as the most in the organization’s history.