Matt LaFleur
As of late Monday, the Green Bay Packers game on Thursday night against the San Francisco 49ers is still on, despite Packers rookie running back AJ Dillon being ruled out of the game after a positive COVID-19 test on Monday.
Dillon is the Packers second-round draft pick. He played 10 snaps on offense and seven more on special teams in Sunday’s 28-22 loss to the Minnesota Vikings.
At his Zoom meeting with reporters on Monday, coach Matt LaFleur said he is operating under the assumption that Thursday’s game at San Francisco will be played.
“All indications point toward us playing on Thursday night,” LaFleur said. “I think the league has confidence that we’ve been handling things the right way in our building. So that’s a credit to the guys in this building, as well as the people who kind of set the standard for us.”
Fellow running back Jamaal Williams and linebacker Kamal Martin, who were added to the injury report Monday as “not injury related,” have been determined to be “close contacts” and the league is evaluating if they were high-risk close contacts. If the league determines them to be high risk, they would not be permitted to play Thursday according to league protocols.
The Packers are hoping to have running back Aaron Jones back this week after missing the last two games with a calf injury.
LaFleur said the Packers will be allowed to hold walk-through practices and physically distanced meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday before heading to Santa Clara to face the 49ers. LaFleur said the plan isn’t too much different because with the short week, they would have held walk through practices anyway.
It’s possible the league could push the Packers/49ers game to Monday night as at least one report suggested, but for now, Thursday’s game is still a go.