RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Washington All-Pro guard Brandon Scherff is going on the NFL’s COVID-19 reserve list.
Scherff and fellow offensive lineman David Sharpe became the fifth and sixth players at Washington’s training camp to go into virus protocol. Scherff was on the field for the start of practice before being walked off.
Scherff declined to give his vaccination status. As of earlier this week, roughly 60% of Washington’s players were fully vaccinated, which ranks last in the league.
“It’s a personal decision for me,” said Scherff, who wore a mask when speaking to reporters Friday, a requirement for unvaccinated players. “It’s a personal decision for everybody. Nobody’s made a deal of it. We’re all here to play football and that’s what we’re doing.”
So far, 88.5% of players around the NFL have had at least one shot of the vaccine and 20 teams have more than 90% of players vaccinated, including eight with more than 95% vaccinated.
“We’re hoping we can get some more guys vaccinated, but we’ll see,” coach Ron Rivera said, citing the opportunity for players to get a vaccine dose Sunday after returning home from Richmond. “It’s a difficult topic. I’ve tried to approach it with a lot of our players, talked to a lot of our guys that have it. It’s a personal thing, but we can sway them hopefully.”
Rivera, who is immune deficient after undergoing treatment last year for a form of skin cancer, has expressed concerns about how virus-related absences will affect the team’s performance. Receiver Curtis Samuel, offensive tackle Cornelius Lucas and defensive lineman Matt Ioannidis are among the other Washington players on the COVID-19 list.
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