The Baltimore Ravens have been hit hard by an outbreak of COVID-19, putting 14 players on the Reserve/COVID-19 list over this last week. But with the Ravens’ Week 12 game against the Pittsburgh Steelers being pushed back to Tuesday, there’s a chance multiple Baltimore players could return in time to play against the Steelers.
Players who tested positive for COVID-19 must isolate for a minimum of 10 days from the date of the positive test while players who were identified as a high-risk close contact are only held out for a minimum of five days. That means anyone who was labeled as a close contact on Wednesday (Nov. 25) or earlier or who tested positive last Friday (Nov. 20) or earlier could potentially return in time for Tuesday’s game against Pittsburgh.
Since the Ravens don’t label any players on the Reserve/COVID-19 list as either testing positive or being a close contact, it’s unclear which players could be eligible to return. However, coach John Harbaugh did confirm defensive tackle Brandon Williams was a close contact, meaning he could play against the Steelers. In addition to Williams, a total of eight other players were placed on the Reserve/COVID-19 list Wednesday or earlier, though that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll absolutely be eligible to return.
Baltimore’s COVID-19 outbreak forced the NFL to reschedule the Ravens’ Week 12 game against the Steelers twice. Originally, Baltimore was set to take on Pittsburgh on Thanksgiving night but it was rescheduled to Sunday afternoon and then further reschedule to Tuesday evening. With the final schedule change, the NFL also moved the Ravens’ Week 13 game against the Dallas Cowboys to Monday night from its original Thursday slot.
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