Washington injury and COVID-19 tracker for Week 15

UPDATE: Heinicke and Allen were unable to clear protocols, meaning Garrett Gilbert will get the start vs the Eagles. 

The Washington Football Team has yet to rule anybody out for Tuesday’s clash against Philadelphia, but it’s worth noting Curtis Samuel wouldn’t have dressed if the game had been played Sunday.

The Samuel injury tour continues. If you can believe it, the speedy wideout has finally shed his groin injury. He’s now dealing with a hamstring injury. Tough to call his first year in the Burgundy and Gold anything but a huge disappointment, because it’s looking less and less likely he’ll make an impact down the stretch.

Samuel and JD McKissic were the lone DNPs on Saturday. The weird thing about McKissic is that he’s managed to clear concussion protocol, but his now listed on the injury report with a neck injury.

In good news, Terry McLaurin got in a full session and looks to be headed in the right direction for Tuesday.

Washington Football Team actives and inactives for Week 15.

With that out of the way, let’s move onto the COVID side of things.

Entering the weekend, Washington had 20 players on the COVID list, tied with Cleveland for the second-most of any team in the NFL. Only the Rams, who leapfrogged the pack by adding nine more players on Thursday, had more with a maximum of 25 before they activated eight players on Saturday.

In light of this breakout, the NFL updated its COVID-19 protocols for vaccinated players and staff members on Thursday, announcing that individuals who are asymptomatic for at least 24 hours can return as early as the day after their positive test by one of the three options outlined in the memo.

The latest high-profile addition for Washington was Taylor Heinicke, who tested positive on Friday, joining backup quarterback Kyle Allen on the COVID list. While Heinicke is asymptomatic and has a chance of returning in time for the game, basic math gives Allen the better chance of being activated sooner.

Here’s where Washington stands on the COVID front as of Tuesday evening. We decided to keep it simple and just list a player’s name and give a simple yes or no in terms of whether they’ve been activated off the shelf.

This article will be updated through Tuesday evening.

• Montez Sweat: Activated 
• Khaleke Hudson: Activated, but on IR
• Daryl Roberts: Activated 
• Casey Toohill: Activated 
• James Smith-Williams: Activated 
• David Mayo: Out
• William Bradley-King: Out
• Jonathan Allen: Activated 
• Kendall Fuller: OUT (unvaccinated)
• Kyle Allen: Out
• Darrick Forrest: Out
• Tim Settle: Activated 
• Temmarick Hemingway: Out
• Sammis Reyes: Activated (but injured)
• Cornelius Lucas: Out
• Matt Ioannidis: Activated 
• Milo Eifler: Out
• Cam Sims: Activated 
• Troy Apke: Activated
• Kamren Curl: Out
• Keith Ismael: Activated 
• Tyler Larsen: Out
• Wendall Smallwood: Out
• Daniel Wise: Activated 
• Taylor Heinicke: Out
• Brandon Scherff (late addition): Out

It’s a huge sign of encouragement knowing Allen, Sweat, Smith-Williams, Matt Ioannidis, Toohill and Wise will be back in the defensive lineup. That could end up making a big difference, but it’s just a killer that Heinicke and Allen, who were ready to board a red eye to Philly, failed to get activated.

That should cover just about everything on the COVID front for Washington, which will also be down seven assistant coaches. The only silver lining in all this is that the Eagles are playing with all the pressure.