J.J. Arcega-Whiteside Tests Positive For COVID-19

J.J. Arcega-Whiteside will be away from the Eagles for a while after testing positive for COVID-19, Geoff Mosher and Adam Caplan of InsidetheBirds.com report (via Twitter).

Because of contact tracing, the Eagles also placed Vinny Curry, Corey Clement and wide receiver Deontay Burnett on their reserve/COVID-19 list Thursday.

Clement and Curry landed on the list because they came in contact with someone who contracted the coronavirus, but NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport notes their placements on the list did not stem from Arcega-Whiteside’s positive test (Twitter link). Curry and Clement have continued to test negative, and ESPN.com’s Tim McManus indicates (via Twitter) each player landed on the virus list because they were close contacts of two different individuals.

While Arcega-Whiteside is guaranteed to miss Sunday’s game, his affected teammates’ respective statuses will come down to when their last contact with an infected person occurred. Players who land on the reserve/COVID list must isolate for five days, but players have been placed on a COVID list on a Thursday and returned to play the following Sunday. Kyle Van Noy did so last week.

Holdovers from the Eagles’ Super Bowl LII-winning team, Curry and Clement serve as key rotational players for Philadelphia. Arcega-Whiteside has not been able to break through despite his second-round pedigree. He has just 12 career catches, including two this season for an again-injury-ravaged Eagles receiving corps.

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