Kliff Kingsbury said this will happen at some point, which is not so much a “yes” query but “when. “And now he’s here.
After 52 consecutive days of highly productive testing and being hailed as one of the NFL’s most productive clubs for their strict compliance with particular protection and fitness protocols, the Cardinals, however, have their first case of COVID-19.
Open receiver KeeSean Johnson, the first Arizona player to be officially placed on the league’s reserve/COVID-19 list.
Players on the COVID-19 list have tested positive for the virus or it has been decided that they have been in close contact with someone who has tested positive recently. NFL groups are prohibited from publicly pronouncing either designation.
“At this point, I think it’s good luck,” Kingsbury told reporters on August 4. “We know we’re going to have positive cases at some point. It’s only when, not if. “
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Until the news broke Friday, the Cardinals were one of four groups of 32 teams in the league that placed one player on the COVID-19 list, the others being Texas, Patriots and Chargers.
Johnson, Fresno State’s last sixth-round selection, will be temporarily fired from the team’s practice facility and will have to go to quarantine. According to the league’s testing protocol, you will need to pass several consecutive COVID-19 tests before you are allowed to resume. education and play in any game.
Johnson played 10 games last season as a rookie and put in 21 passes for 187 yards and a touchdown. He made four openings, but his playing time decreased in the part of the year. It was listed as the largest open replacement receiver Christian Kirk. the team’s No. 3 opener.
Now that the cardinals have their first case of COVID, chief sports coach Tom Reed and his staff will begin the tactile search protocol procedure to help isolate and restrict the possible spread of the virus on the computer, as well as to locate who might be Johnson. have been in close contact with.
All players, coaches and staff use a Kinexon touch tracking device on their wrist. The real-time tracking formula beeps when it violates six-foot social distance rules and has the ability to identify who the other user is and exactly when the touch occurred.
“Knowledge is really appealing,” Reed said in a video of an educational camp posted in the past through the team. “If we get a positive result in verification, it will send us all the knowledge about other people who have been less than two meters away. for 10 minutes or more. This can take several days, until the beginning when we start dressing them. Knowledge so attractive to the extent that it is imaginable to trace contact with anyone in the building. “
Cardinals Out-of-back Devon Kennard praised the team’s protective and fitness protocol procedures, but in his view, the fact that the franchise has not had a COVID case so far comes down to something else.
“I think it’s luck, to be honest, ” said Kennard. ” This disease is real, it is serious and anyone can contract it, so we are fortunate to be part of the groups that have not had anyone (previously on the reserve list / COVID-19). Our protocols are the right ones and it’s up to us to do it that way. It can never be too comfortable. By the time you start to feel comfortable with it, that’s when it may be to start sliding. “
Kingsbury agreed and told reporters after the team’s first unmounted training on August 12 that players have “run their business” as natural professionals, but they can’t give up now.
“I think we all have to get on with that feeling of unease,” the coach said. “I think this allows us to be ready and (continue) by taking the obligatory precautions. Never let go, because it will be a consistent war to remain. without COVID as an organization, Array
“So I hope there’s this underlying thought, even if it’s, ‘Hi guys, even though we’ve done well so far, we have to be informed. ‘They’re all in this country and in this world. Right now. We am very pleased to have been able to move on and continue to review to hold this thing”.
According to Kirk, players plan to do everything they can to keep certain things from getting worse. They know what’s at stake, he said, and they don’t need to let the virus into the organization to ruin everything.
“I think that says a lot about the character in the locker room and the guys we have on this team,” Kirk said. “The point of adulthood is very high. When you look at our list, just the kind of person we have and everyone else buying. We all want to play football and that’s our main goal.
“We also know the skill we have in our team and we know what we can do if we are able to optimize it and come in combination because we have all said it and many groups in the league have said it, it is the groups that take care of it to the maximum productive are the ones that will be the most successful and we need to be part of the groups.
“So they all adhered to all protocols. The organization has done an intelligent task to make everyone feel safe . . . and restrict any type of contact in compliance with all social distance regulations. I think if we can be consistent, which we have so far, we can stay on the same path. “
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