Philadelphia Eagles head coach Doug Pederson of Bellingham, Washington, tested positive for coronavirus on Sunday according to Rob Maaddi of the Associated Press. Pederson becomes the second National Football League head coach to test positive for the disease. The first was New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton of San Mateo, California on March 19.
Pederson is 52 years of age. He has not yet had any symptoms. He is reportedly feeling well and is self-quarantining. It will be interesting to see if any member of the Philadelphia Eagles organization will be impacted due to Pederson’s positive test.
The sports community in Philadelphia has been affected significantly due to coronavirus over the last week. Last weekend there was a coronavirus outbreak among the Miami Marlins while they were playing the Philadelphia Phillies in Major League Baseball action. A total of 20 Marlins representatives tested positive, and the Phillies visitor clubhouse was fumigated. Two members of the Phillies have since tested positive (a coach and a clubhouse staff member). As a result, the Phillies games against the New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays were postponed.
There are a lot of questions at this time about the safety of people involved in the National Football League. Members of the NFL should look at the positive measures the National Basketball Association and National Hockey League have taken to conclude their season, and learn from the massive mistakes made by Major League Baseball. One positive step the NFL has already taken has been the decision to cancel all preseason games. The games do not mean anything anyways, and teams are better off to have internal scrimmages to evaluate talent instead.
