Jared Goff has mild symptoms after testing positive for COVID but ‘feeling good’

Goff said his chances of playing on Sunday is unclear at this time.

On Monday, the Detroit Lions placed starting quarterback Jared Goff on the reserve/COVID-19 list. On Tuesday, Goff spoke was a guest on local sports radio station 97.1’s “Karsch and Anderson show” and he spoke with them on a variety of topics, including updating his health status.

“I’m feeling good,” Goff said on the radio show. “It’s pretty much a mild cold. I’m feeling fine. I had some symptoms pop up Sunday night after the game, and on Monday morning I said, ‘I better make sure this is good to go’, and sure enough I was positive (for COVID-19).”

The Lions players are off on Tuesday, so Goff is not in Allen Park, but while at home he said he is taking the proper next steps in order to get better.

“Take care of my body,” Goff said. “Rest, sleep, hydration, medicine, you know, just take care of my body and get back to playing as soon as I can.”

With the heavy amount of COVID-19 cases currently impacting several NFL franchises, the league has provided updated guidelines for teams to follow. Those new protocols include an opportunity for vaccinated players to return to the play faster, as long as they meet certain standards, such as testing negative for COVID-19 or carrying a small enough load of the virus that the league considers non-contagious.

“I don’t know the chances (of playing this week),” Goff continued. “I think I have a chance of testing negative, as well as I have a chance of testing positive every day. I really don’t know. So, I’ll test every day and we’ll find out. And if I happen to test negative in the next couple days, then yeah, sure there’s a chance (of playing), but yeah, I don’t know.”

This is a frustrating situation for players. Two weeks ago the Lions were hit with an outbreak of the flu, as well as their COVID-19 cases, and Goff was among those affected.

“It is interesting, though, I had the flu a couple weeks ago and they didn’t have a problem with me playing, but we’re not allowed to play with this,” Goff questioned. “I tested flu positive, and I was in the building the next day, and there was no issue.”

This final off-the-cuff comment from Goff is downplaying the seriousness that the Lions took in dealing with the flu spread. As the flu passed through the locker room, the team kept Goff at home that Wednesday while the rest of the team went through two separate walkthroughs, separated by offense and defense. Goff even held his weekly press conference virtually that week, so things were far from normal.

That following Thursday, the team held out their entire offensive and defensive lines from practice in order to slow the spread. Friday’s practice was outdoors. And even then, there were still players who were unable to play that week—as well as this past Sunday—due to the flu outbreak.

If Goff is able to clear protocols, it will be good news for Detroit’s offense as he is coming off his best game as a Lion, and has seemed to figure things out in the passing game as of late. If not, the Lions will turn to backup Tim Boyle, who struggled in his one start this season.