Jaguars place four rookies on team’s reserve/COVID-19 list

The Jaguars announced today that they have placed four rookies on the team’s reserve/COVID-19 list, including defensive tackle DaVon Hamilton, cornerbacks Josiah Scott and Luq Barcoo and offensive lineman Tre’Vour Wallace-Simms. Rookie fullback Connor Slomka was placed on the team’s active/non-football injury list.

Hamilton and Scott were selected in rounds three and four of the 2020 NFL Draft, respectively, while Barcoo, Wallace-Simms and Slomka were signed immediately following the draft in undrafted free agency.

The reserve/COVID-19 list is a new reserve category created by the NFL for a player who either tests positive for COVID-19 or who has been quarantined after having been in close contact with an infected person or persons.

“Clubs are not permitted to comment on a player’s medical status other than referring to roster status. Clubs may not disclose whether the player is in quarantine or is positive for COVID-19,” the Jaguars said on social media. “Clubs, club-personnel, other player snad player-agents are not permitted to disclose a player’s reason for placement on reserve/COVID-19 or a player’s status with regard to such illness.”

Players are allowed to indicate themselves if they have tested positive or not, however.

For players that are listed on the team’s reserve/COVID-19 list, the minimum period is commensurate with the applicable mandatory testing and/or quarantine time required by the NFL/NFLPA Testing and/or Treatment Protocols to clear that player.

Teams across the NFL today have placed several players who have reported on the reserve/COVID-19 list as needed.

The Jaguars and all 32 NFL teams began the first portion of training camp with rookies, injured players and quarterbacks reporting for testing last week, shortly before the NFL and NFLPA agreed to a revised CBA which includes safety protocols and measures for all teams and its players, along with financial language to sort out the potential impact from a lost season, if there is one.

While players continue to report for testing prior to the acclimation period of training camp, the NFL has always expected many players to test positive, or be in a situation in which they need to quarantine due to being close to an individual person or persons that has tested positive.

The Jaguars and all 32 teams are set to have their veteran players report to camp tomorrow, and the Jaguars are one of 20 players, as of today, to have their IDER plan approved, which means more than 20 individual players may report at the same time. The Jaguars and many teams use time slots to accommodate a large segment of players reporting.

Update: Shortly after the Jaguars announced rookies placed on the team’s reserve/COVID-19 list, rookie cornerback Josiah Scott took to Twitter to clarify his placement.

“My first test for Covid came back positive but then was re-tested multiple times the following days after that and those results have all been negative,” Scott says. “My first test was a false positive guys so we’re all good just had to do the protocol.”

The NFL and individual organizations are smartly employing a very strict protocol to mitigate the harm that could potentially be caused by a player who tests positive or comes in close contact with a person or persons who test positive for the coronavirus.