Browns, Rams, Washington nearly forfeited over COVID-19 outbreaks?
It was learned back in July that an NFL team could be forced to forfeit games and, ultimately, paychecks if unable to play in any given week because of a COVID-19 outbreak among unvaccinated players. This, of course, was months before the emergence of the Omicron variant that's causing widespread breakthrough coronavirus cases throughout the NFL and much of the sports world.
Cleveland Browns-Las Vegas Raiders, Washington Football Team-Philadelphia Eagles and Los Angeles Rams-Seattle Seahawks Week 15 matchups were shifted on the schedule due to outbreaks affecting Cleveland, Washington and Los Angeles, and it appears those three clubs came closer to taking losses than anybody knew as of Friday morning.
According to Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports, the Browns, Rams and Washington were "on the verge of forfeits this week" that would've cost all six of the previously mentioned clubs money:
Brent Sobleski of Bleacher Report added:
Both the NFL and NFL Players Association supposedly understood there would be a potentially massive increase in positive COVID-19 tests coming off the Thanksgiving holiday and also because of the Omicron variant, which leads one to wonder why the two parties didn't agree to daily testing and enhanced coronavirus protocols for all clubs and personnel weeks ago.
Granted, sports leagues in North America and around the world are facing COVID-19 surges ahead of Christmas, but continuing to work and live as normal certainly wasn't the wisest of courses for the NFL or any other entity this month.
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