Titans' outbreak nears end, other NFL teams deal with COVID

Updated Sep. 6, 2021 4:48 p.m. ET

Associated Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The Tennessee Titans' COVID-19 outbreak is nearing an end even with two starting offensive linemen still on the reserve list.

Not everyone around the NFL may be as healthy to kick off this season with COVID-19 proving to be an issue hovering over another season.

“Everybody, whether it’s the league, whether it’s your family, my family, we all have to just understand that we’re going to deal with some things,” Titans coach Mike Vrabel said Monday. "We’re going to deal with positive test results from vaccinated people. We’ll follow the protocols how we have to and try to be as safe as we possibly can.”

Vrabel, who said last spring he was vaccinated, was the

Other NFL teams may be without starters for their openers.

Miami put its presumed

Miller will be out 10 days, which indicates under league rules he was unvaccinated and tested positive. Carolina coach Matt Rhule said last week only two Panthers' players had not been vaccinated.

The Jets are waiting to see if wide receiver

Dallas likely will be without four-time

All-Pro safety

Ryan Tannehill was just starting to practice with AP NFL Offensive Player of the Year Derrick Henry, seven-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Julio Jones and Pro Bowl receiver A.J. Brown when the

Vrabel said Tannehill will have to build a relationship with Jones, acquired by trade in June, on the field. Both have met extensively, the Titans have talked about it and now must finetune in practice for the opener.

Asked if he talked to his players about staying safe before having a three-day weekend off, Vrabel said the Titans always try to be smart about what they do.

“Judging from the games that I watched, I didn’t see that COVID was much of a concern for anybody, but we have to be smart in the decisions that we make,” Vrabel said. “Whether it is who we hang out with, what we do, and I think that they are very conscious of that.”

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