Clark Joins Surging Ranks of NFL Players on COVID-19 List
GREEN BAY, Wis. – COVID rates are surging across the nation, and the Green Bay Packers aren’t immune.
When Jordan Love was activated on Wednesday, it meant the Packers had zero players or coaches with COVID. It was a brief respite.
Coach Matt LaFleur on Thursday said star defensive tackle Kenny Clark has been added to the list. At the start of the day on Thursday, it seemed as if Clark almost certainly would be out for Sunday. The timeline of testing negative twice in such a short time seemed implausible.
However, the NFL updated its COVID protocols on Thursday afternoon in response to swelling numbers league-wide. In the updated protocols, "an individual's return from quarantine is possible as soon as the day after his initial positive test." So, the door could be open for a quick return for Clark, their best defensive lineman and one of their best players, period.
“Other guys are going to have to step up,” LaFleur said before practice and before the protocol changes. “That’s just the world we live in right now. You see it going on throughout the league. A lot of teams are facing the same issues.”
Clark has been a driving force behind a defense that ranks seventh in points allowed and sixth in total defense. He is fifth on the team with 42 tackles, third with four sacks and 12 quarterback hits, and tied for first with six tackles for losses.
Among interior defenders, he is tied for third with 54 quarterback pressures, according to Pro Football Focus. A whopping 23 of those have come the last four games, including seven against Chicago on Sunday night. Five of his dozen quarterback hits, per the NFL’s official count, have come the last two games.
The Packers don’t have anyone capable of picking up his three-down production, so his possible return for Sunday would be a big boost against a quality offense. Defensive tackle Kingsley Keke is coming off a strong performance vs. Chicago, and fifth-round pick T.J. Slaton will see more playing time after logging just 12 snaps the last two games.
Jack Heflin, an undrafted free agent, is the sixth defensive lineman on the roster behind Dean Lowry, Tyler Lancaster, Clark, Keke and Slaton. He’s played 13 defensive snaps in three games. R.J. McIntosh, a fifth-round pick by the Giants in 2018 with 18 games under his belt, and Abduallah Anderson, who played in six games for Chicago in 2019, are on the practice squad.
“The way I look at it is no different than when you have an injury on gameday,” LaFleur said. “But at least you have some preparation time to get the guys the reps that they need. So, obviously, Slaton’s going to play a big role in that and we’ll decide who that fifth guy is. But all of those collectively as a group, our interior D-line, are going to have to do a great job, when you take a player like that potentially off the field.”
After relatively smooth sailing through training camps in August and the first three months of the season, 106 players tested positive on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. That’s more than over the previous four weeks combined (87) and not far off the six-week total (121).
