CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Browns only need to be 1 hour on Sunday.
On Saturday night around 8:30 they put cornerback Kevin Johnson on the COVID-19 reserve list, where he joins starting cornerback Denzel Ward and four others, who will all have to miss the Steelers game.
The others are linebackers BJ Goodson and Malcolm Smith, safety Andrew Sendejo, and tighthead Harrison Bryant. It is still unknown if Johnson is positive or if he has close contact. If he is positive like the other five, he will have to set aside at least ten days and will miss the Wildcard round next weekend if the Browns win the playoffs.
Johnson would probably have started the game in place of Ward, who tested positive for the virus on Thursday. Ward, the Browns’ second-best defensive player behind Myles Garrett, will not only miss Sunday’s win-and-win game against the Steelers, he could miss the first playoff game next weekend, whether it’s Saturday or Sunday in the game.
The Browns called up unsolicited rookie AJ Green to rank Johnson’s place. Green (6-2, 198) was signed by the Browns from Oklahoma State and he spent the season in the training group.
Johnson’s addition to the roster continues with a season-long revolving door in the Browns defensive backfield. Sendejo and Ward tested positive this week, and Karl Joseph’s safety was activated from the reserve list as a contact of Sendejo’s and will play on Sunday.
It was another tumultuous COVID-19 day for the Browns overall. They had to end their morning for the third time in four days when a second assistant coach tested positive. Later, the Browns announced that offensive coach Bill Callahan and his assistant coach Scott Peters would both miss the game due to COVID-19 protocols.
One of them tested positive and was able to miss the Wildcard round. The other one was a close contact. They join Chad O’Shea, coach / passing game coordinator, for the Steelers. The two coaches who tested positive may also miss the playoffs, depending on various factors.
The Browns, who can reach the playoffs for the first time since 2002, kept their facility closed on Saturday and virtually made their run.
They recovered five players from the COVID-19 reserve list on Thursday in receivers Jarvis Landry, Rashard Higgins, Donovan Peoples-Jones and KhaDarel Hodge, and linebacker Jacob Phillips.
But if they continue to lose defensive backs, they will make things easier than they had hoped on fullback Mason Rudolph, who will still have skilled players like Chase Claypool, JuJu Smith-Schuster and Diontae Johnson and the Vance McDonald.
The Steelers had some significant COVID-19 misery on Saturday with the start of corner kick Joe Haden, tighthead Eric Ebron and linebacker Cassius Marsh being placed on the COVID-19 reserve list and excluded from the game .
That was after the Steelers had already partially ruled out Pro Bowlers Ben Roethlisberger, TJ Watt, Cam Heyward and Maurkice Pouncey because Pittsburgh (12-3) had already clinched the AFC North.
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