Seahawks Place Bryan Mone on COVID-19 List, Tre Flowers Heads to Injured Reserve

In a series of moves made on Saturday, Seattle became the final NFL team to place a player on the COVID-19 reserve list, while Flowers won't be eligible to return from a hamstring injury until at least Week 16.

After going nearly 13 weeks into the regular season without placing a player on the COVID-19 reserve list, the Seahawks impressive streak has come to an end.

Already on injured reserve due to a high ankle sprain, Bryan Mone received the designation on Saturday, indicating he either tested positive for the virus or has been in close proximity to someone who has it. Teams aren't required to disclose specifics.

Under league rules, if he's asymptomatic and doesn't have a positive test over the next five days, Mone would be eligible to be removed from the list.

Aside from a false positive from receiver John Ursua during training camp, Seattle has been fortunate to have no positive cases on the team to this point. Mone has been at practice watching and sporting a boot on his injured ankle, but wasn't seen at Friday's session according to Gregg Bell of the Tacoma News Tribune.

In his second season out of Michigan, Mone has played in eight games for the Seahawks, producing seven tackles, 0.5 sacks, and a safety. He suffered his injury during a Week 9 victory over the 49ers and has since been replaced by veteran Damon Harrison on the active roster.

Heading into a Week 13 matchup with the New York Giants, Seattle made two additional roster moves on Saturday, placing cornerback Tre Flowers on injured reserve and elevating tackle Chad Wheeler from the practice squad.

Flowers played every defensive snap on Monday night against the Eagles, but according to coach Pete Carroll, he came out of the game dealing with a sore hamstring. He underwent an MRI earlier this week and wasn't able to practice, leaving his status for this weekend murky at best.

"He came out of the game with his hamstring tight, did the MRI and he's got something that we have to deal with," Carroll told reporters on Friday. "It's not a serious hamstring injury, but it's enough to really bother him this week, and to expect for him to turn around and bounce back around this week is a lot to expect."

Now, Flowers will be forced to miss at least the next three weeks before he's eligible to return to the 53-man roster. D.J. Reed will step into the starting lineup in his place across from Shaquill Griffin against the Giants, while Quinton Dunbar has a chance to be activated from injured reserve next week.

Under fire early in the season while struggling in coverage, Flowers has turned his season around and has arguably been the team's best defensive back the past few weeks. First, he held Cardinals star receiver DeAndre Hopkins to 51 yards on five receptions in a Week 11 victory and surrendered only three receptions for 20 yards last week against the Eagles.

Starting seven games and appearing in all 11 for Seattle to this point, Flowers has produced 47 tackles, two passes defensed, and a forced fumble. While allowing 77 percent of passes to be completed against him, he's given up a career-low 10.8 yards per completion and only one touchdown in coverage thus far.

With Brandon Shell likely sidelined for a second straight game with an ankle sprain and Cedric Ogbuehi added to the injury report on Saturday with a calf injury, the Seahawks promoted Wheeler to provide extra insurance at the right tackle position.

Now in his fourth year out of USC, Wheeler started 19 games for the Giants in 2017 and 2018 before being released prior to the 2019 season. He hasn't played in a regular season game for the Seahawks yet, but he was promoted to the active roster for a divisional round game against the Packers last January and was elevated to the 53-man roster in Week 1 against the Falcons.

Per league rules, Wheeler will revert back to the practice squad on Monday and if Seattle wants to promote him again this year, the team will have to move him to the 53-man roster.