The NFL Should Postpone Texans-Chargers

The Texans added another six players to their COVID List yesterday, which has now ballooned to 23 players. That’s essentially half of the team’s gameday roster out for tomorrow’s game against the Chargers. Both Houston’s offensive and defensive lines are decimated. The Texans lack almost the entire wide receiver corps, too.

Their opponent, the Los Angeles Chargers, are not without their own issues. Star running back Austin Ekeler, defensive end Joey Bosa, center Corey Linsley, edge rusher Chris Rumph, cornerback Tevaughn Campbell, cornerback Kemon Hall, safety Trey Marshall, and returner Andre Roberts are all out with COVID symptoms.

Despite both teams suffering heavy blows to their roster, Texans head coach David Culley was adamant the game would occur as scheduled.

Culley backed up his statement by calling attention to the teams’ COVID-free Friday test results. “The whole league is having these problems. We’ll be fine.”

Just because the whole league is having trouble doesn’t mean the Texans’ issues should be dismissed. A quick glance at the defensive depth chart says everything that you need to hear.

Simply put, it will be dangerous to the healthy players to play an entire football game with little to no substitutions. This goes beyond the Chargers’ pursuit of a playoff spot and Houston’s pursuit of a high draft pick. The Texans are not equipped to play a football game for 60 minutes tomorrow. It is borderline negligent for the league to allow a game to be played by two professional teams when one is woefully unable to fill out a roster and has a sickness going through the entire locker room.

The NFL should take after the NBA last year and pause all activity until the situation becomes more steady. The Texans and Chargers should play this game when both teams are more healthy. Whether that be Tuesday or sometime in two weeks, this game should not be played tomorrow by a skeleton crew.