Philadelphia Eagles safety tests positive for COVID-19

One of the Philadelphia Eagles’ own has tested positive for COVID-19.

Well, the Philadelphia Eagles may be off this week, but that doesn’t mean that there’s any shortage of news from the NovaCare Complex. Despite heading into their Week 9 bye with a two-game winning streak, someone who wasn’t aware of that might be fooled into thinking that Philly has dropped two in a row.

Welcome to Philadelphia. This is the home of some of the most passionate football fans on Planet Earth.

So, here we are. Despite a substandard 3-4-1 record, there’s much to be fixed, and it’s obvious. For that reason, head coach Doug Pederson asked that his squad put in a little overtime on Wednesday. One day later, news broke that reserve safety Marcus Epps tested positive for COVID-19.

Here’s an official statement from the official team website:

"The Philadelphia Eagles received confirmation this morning that a player tested positive for COVID-19. The individual immediately went into self-isolation upon learning of his test result. We are following the NFL-NFLPA intensive protocols and remain in close communication with the league on this matter"

This shouldn’t have any effect on the Eagles’ Week 10 game versus the hated New York Giants. At the time of this story being published, none of Epps’ other teammates have tested positive. According to the NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, Epps is asymptomatic, and the Eagles will enter ‘intensive protocols’.

Here’s some background on Epps if you’re not a Philadelphia Eagles fan.

The NFL’s Reserve/COVID-19 list was created to house players who either test positive for Coronavirus or have been in some sort of close contact with another infected person or persons. Any player on any team’s Reserve/COVID-19 list doesn’t count against the roster.

Epps was drafted in the sixth round of 2019’s NFL Draft by the Minnesota Vikings but was waived on November 6th. The Eagles claimed him off waivers one day later. For his career, he has 19 total tackles in 14 games with two starts.