CLEVELAND — Editor's note: the story in the video above is from Dec. 27, 2020.
A Cleveland Browns player and staff member tested positive for the coronavirus (COVID-19) on Wednesday.
The Browns are currently working remotely while conducting contact tracing in order to identify any potential high-risk contacts. According to head coach Kevin Stefanski, it was a member of Cleveland's practice squad and coaching staff who tested positive on Wednesday.
The closing of the team's facility comes four days after the Browns placed six players on the COVID-19 reserve list ahead of Sunday's loss to the New York Jets. After initially placing linebacker B.J. Goodson on the COVID-19 list, contact tracing resulted in wide receivers Jarvis Landry, Rashard Higgins, Donovan Peoples-Jones and KhaDarel Hodge, as well as Jacob Phillips, being placed on the COVID-19 list as close contacts.
According to Stefanski, his team's top four wide receivers, as well as Phillips, will be eligible to rejoin the team on Thursday should they continue to test negative for the coronavirus. On Tuesday, the Browns added three more players -- safeties Andrew Sendejo and Karl Joseph and tight end Harrison Bryant -- to the COVID-19 list, bringing Cleveland's total of players on the list to nine before Wednesday's positive tests.
As a result, the Browns could find themselves shorthanded heading into Sunday's regular-season finale against the Pittsburgh Steelers. With a win, Cleveland would end the NFL's longest active postseason drought (17 years), while a tie or loss would leave the Browns needing help elsewhere in the NFL in order to clinch a postseason spot.