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The Arizona Cardinals are having COVID-19 problems. After already being down several players on the defensive side of the ball, including Chandler Jones, the Cardinals will now also be without head coach Kliff Kingsbury and two other personnel members due to positive COVID tests in Week 6 against the Cleveland Browns.
Cardinals HC Kliff Kingsbury, QBs coach Cam Turner and DL Zach Allen all tested positive today for COVID and are out for Sunday’s game in Cleveland. In Kingsbury's place, DC Vance Joseph and assistant HC/ST coordinator Jeff Rodgers will split the Cards’ head-coaching duties.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) October 16, 2021
Joseph has experience as a head coach with the Denver Broncos and Rodgers is listed as an assistant head coach.
According to Tom Pelissero, the NFL is not considering moving the game to accomodate for the new positive tests. The Cardinals are going into advanced mitigation protocols and are scheduled to travel Saturday but there’s no plans to call the game off. There’s a possibility this could be the first forfeit of the season, if Arizona has more positive tests. Under enhanced protocols, there will be daily COVID testing. That means two more rounds of tests ahead of Sunday’s game, according to the league’s protocols.
The NFL has encouraged vaccination to the point of saying a team will forfeit games due to a COVID outbreak related to unvaccinated personnel if it does not have the necessary roster. Kingsbury has said the Cardinals are fully vaccinated, leading to questions about how the outbreak has occurred in the team.