Matthew Stafford was placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list on Wednesday, but it doesn’t appear he has the virus. Stafford’s wife, Kelly, went to Instagram to announce that the entire family tested negative for the coronavirus. This is similar to what happened to Stafford and his family as he was placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list in August only to be taken off as he had a false positive test.
“Okay y’all, I appreciate everyone reaching out and giving us well wishes,” Kelly posted, as reported by Lions Wire. “We are fine. We are all negative (for COVID-19). My husband is negative. There was just a certain exposure. We have all been testing since the exposure.” The Lions never announced if Stafford tested positive for COVID-19 or came in contact with someone who had the virus. Per NFL rules, Stafford is allowed to take part in virtual meetings while he is away from the team.
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“Obviously, these situations where we’ve had players that haven’t been at practice that are preparing to get ready to go play in the game, we handle them the same,” Lions coach Matt Patricia said according to USA Today. “We’re going to do what we do and obviously push forward to get ready to go from a game plan standpoint, and we’re always ready in all scenarios. That’s the great thing. I think everybody prepares really well and everyone’s getting ready to go play football.” When Stafford was placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list in August, the team was getting ready for training camp.
“I had no reason to not believe the results, or whatever, except for the fact that I was feeling fine,” Stafford said. “But there’s plenty of people out there that are positive and asymptomatic as well. So I think, yeah, there was no doubt there was some fear as I think everybody would have if they got a test that came back positive. And just knowing how much that I’m around and had been around my family and my kids, that’s a little bit of a scary thing.” The Lions currently have a 3-4 record, and Stafford has been the team’s most consistent player. In seven games this year, Stafford has completed 61% of his passes and thrown for 1,961 yards, 13 touchdowns and five interceptions.
