(Reuters) – Baltimore quarterback Lamar Jackson, the NFL’s reigning Most Valuable Player, has tested positive for COVID-19 and will miss the Ravens rescheduled game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, a report on the league’s website said.
The Ravens had been due to face the Steelers on Thursday but the game was postponed with several Baltimore players and staff members having tested positive this week or deemed to have been in close contact.
The report https://www.nfl.com/news/ravens-qb-lamar-jackson-tests-positive-for-covid-19 said the NFL would monitor developments but that there had been no change as yet to the status of Sunday’s game between the Ravens (6-4) and undefeated Steelers (10-0).
The latest outbreak has seen the Ravens place 10 players, including eight starters, on the reserve/COVID-19 list, it added.
ESPN on Thursday said Jackson was among four more Ravens players to test positive as part of one of the biggest outbreaks in the NFL and one that could threaten Sunday’s game.
“No way it can be played,” an unnamed source told ESPN Senior NFL Insider Adam Schefter.
ESPN also said Baltimore head coach John Harbaugh confirmed he had told the team that players would not be allowed to go into the Ravens’ training facility until Monday at the earliest.
The Ravens did not immediately respond when asked to comment.
In a statement on Wednesday they said they had disciplined a staff member for conduct surrounding the recent COVID-19 cases that have affected the team.
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
