Eagles will place three wide receivers on reserve/COVID-19 after one tests positive

The Philadelphia Eagles are placing wide receivers J.J. Arcega-Whiteside, John Hightower, and Deontay Burnett on the reserve/COVID-19 list, according to a report from Geoff Mosher and Adam Caplan.

The team officialy issued the following statement:

JJAW actually tested positive for the coronavirus while Hightower and Burnett were identified as close contacts.

JJAW is the second Eagles player to test positive for COVID-19 since safety Marcus Epps previously did two weeks ago. As of this original publish time, Epps has not been officially activated back to the 53-man roster.

This news doesn’t carry a massive impact on the Eagles’ on-field performance. JJAW was a healthy scratch in Week 10 while Hightower only played three snaps. Burnett is a practice squad member.

Still, these players potentially being unavailable only hurts the Eagles’ wide receiver depth. Hopefully they recover soon and the virus doesn’t spread further throughout the team.

The Eagles’ Week 11 opponent, the Cleveland Browns, also had to put some players on the reserve/COVID-19 list this week. None of them tested positive and the Sunday game is still currently scheduled to be played.

As a reminder, here’s the NFL’s return from COVID protocol:

Following a positive test, if the player is asymptomatic, he can return once:

• 10 days have passed since the initial positive test; OR
• Five days have passed since the initial positive test and the player receives two consecutive negative PCR virus tests at least 24 hours apart within that five-day period

Following a positive test, if the player demonstrates symptoms, he can return once:

• At least 10 days have passed since symptoms first appeared; AND
• At least 72 hours have passed since he last experienced symptoms

All players must get clearance from the club’s Head Physician in both cases.