Ben Roethlisberger among 4 Steelers placed on reserve/covid-19 list

Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is among four Pittsburgh Steelers players the team placed on the NFL’s reserve/covid-19 list Tuesday.

The moves come a day after the team announced a player — later identified as tight end Vance McDonald — had tested positive for coronavirus and was placed on the list. Per NFL intensive protocol, players deemed “high-risk” contacts of an individual who tests positive must isolate for five days.

The Steelers host the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday. The four players — Roethlisberger, starting linebacker Vince Williams, No. 4 running back Jaylen Samuels and backup offensive tackle Jerald Hawkins — must come back negative in daily testing before they can rejoin teammates and visit the Steelers’ UPMC Rooney Sports Complex facility. If all do, they can play Sunday, but none will be able to practice this week until the Saturday walkthrough.

Coach Mike Tomlin said Tuesday he is “not overly concerned about” his starting quarterback not having any physical reps throughout the week.

“This guy has been doing his job for 17 years,” Tomlin said of Roethlisberger, a 2004 first-round pick.

Tomlin expressed similar faith in Williams, an eight-year veteran.

“(Williams and Roethlisberger) will simply work remotely and sharpen their sword in that way,” Tomlin said. “And really, give their bodies an opportunity to get some much-needed rest. We are optimistic those guys will be their normal selves.”

Tomlin was less committal about Hawkins and Samuels playing Sunday. For the season, Samuels has played 10% of the Steelers’ offensive snaps and Hawkins has played 8.4%.

But Williams is one of the more valuable members of the defense as athe only inside linebacker on the team with significant NFL regular-season experience for the Steelers. Fellow starter Devin Bush is out for the season because of a torn ACL, and former practice-squad player Robert Spillane has been filling in for him.

The Steelers traded for veteran Avery Williamson from the New York Jets last week. He was in uniform for Sunday’s win at the Dallas Cowboys but did not play because he had not yet practiced with the Steelers. His first practice is scheduled for Wednesday.

The only other player listed as an inside linebacker on the active roster is Marcus Allen, a former safety until being moved to linebacker in August.

Mason Rudolph will get first-team reps at quarterback this week and would start Sunday if Roethlisberger cannot. The Steelers also have Josh Dobbs and Devlin Hodges at quarterback, the latter on the practice squad.

#Steelers tight end Vance McDonald became the team’s first player to test positive for coronavirus since the regular season began. https://t.co/XgqDQPYA6K

— Tribune-ReviewSports (@TribSports) November 10, 2020

McDonald missed practice Friday, for reasons listed on the league-mandated injury report by the Steelers as “illness.” McDonald traveled with the team to and from Texas over the weekend and played 20 snaps in the 24-19 victory against the Cowboys.

Roethlisberger is one of McDonald’s best friends on the team. His locker is next to McDonald’s at the team’s facility. Tomlin said that the tracking devices all players and personnel wear are used in the contact tracing to determined which players are deemed “high risk” and must isolate.

In this coronavirus-affected season, several teams have had players miss practice time because of contact tracing.Last week, the Baltimore Ravens had six players on the covid-19 list throughout the week because of high-risk contact with cornerback Marlon Humphrey, who had a test taken the day of a Nov. 1 game against the Steelers come back positive the following day.

For those asking what it means for teams to be in Intensive Protocol pic.twitter.com/xBWIxSYLqo

— Brian McCarthy (@NFLprguy) November 2, 2020

Some NFL games have been postponed this season — notably, an October Steelers game at Tennessee after several members of the Titans organization tested positive — but none have been canceled. The league has declared that even the lack of a star player or quarterback alone will not be enough to postpone a game.

The New England Patriots played a game last month, for example, without starting quarterback Cam Newton because Newton was on the covid-19 list after a positive test.

McDonald cannot rejoin the team until late next week at the earliest and only after he is not exhibiting symptoms and is testing negative.

Although a yet-to-be-identified Steelers staff member tested positive last week, the Steelers had been among a minority of NFL teams that had not had a player test positive since the season began. The Steelers’ only prior usage of the reserve/covid-19 list was at the early stages of their training camp.

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