What started as a cute story early this week has backfired with potential negative ramifications for the Green Bay Packers as newly acquired offensive tackle Jared Veldheer has been placed on the COVID reserve list. Retired and out of football until just weeks ago, Veldheer was brought up from Indianapolis's practice squad and played in the Colts Wild Card round loss to the Buffalo Bills. As a practice squad player, Veldheer was signed by the Packers under NFL rules in place for this season only and was set to potentially become the first player in league history to play for two different teams in the playoffs. Veldheer came out of retirement late in 2019 and started in the Packers divisional playoff game.
Since his COVID tests were negative in Indianapolis, Veldheer was eligible to practice for Green Bay Tuesday. The team had been fortunate with COVID in recent weeks, and no other player on the team has tested positive and Veldheer was not considered to be in close contact with any other players (i.e. other lineman or other members of the offense). The Packers nervously await test results and whether any contract tracing will be done. Hopefully the ultimate nightmare scenario does not play out to doom Green Bay's season.