CLEVELAND — With the Cleveland Browns’ COVID-19 outbreak apparently under control, the team is prepared to face the Raiders with a roster full of reserves and practice squad signees. 

What You Need To Know

  • The Cleveland Browns still have more than a dozen players, including starting quarterback Baker Mayfield and receiver Jarvis Landry, on the COVID-19 list

  • The team’s COVID-19 outbreak forced the NFL to move Saturday’s game against the Raiders to Monday night

  • The Browns/Raiders matchup was one of three moved by the NFL

  • Nick Mullens is expected to make his first start for the Browns

Nevermind the fact that a win would put the Browns atop the AFC North standings, but a loss could send them to the bottom of the division with just three weeks to go. 

On Monday, just one player was activated from the COVID-19 list — safety John Johnson III. With a litany of players remaining on the COVID list, the Browns elevated seven players — cornerbacks Brian Allen Herb Miller, safeties Jovante Moffatt and Tedric Thompson, guard Hjalte Froholdt, defensive end Joe Jackson and running back John Kelly — from the practice roster Monday. 

The team faces a 2 p.m. deadline three hours before Monday’s kickoff to finalize the roster. 

Following Monday morning’s roster update, Nick Mullens is expected to get his first start at quarterback for the Browns. 

Mullens was pressed into action for the 49ers two of the prior three seasons to fill in when Jimmy Garoppolo was sidelined with injuries. 

He was released after the 2020 season by the 49ers and picked up by the Eagles during training camp. The Browns signed him to the practice squad in September.

Mullens started half of the 49ers games last year, compiling a 2-6 record. During his 2020 campaign, Mullens threw 12 touchdowns but was also picked off 12 times. He finished the season on the injury list. 

He also started half of the 49ers contests in 2018, winning three out of eight games.

“Any time you step on the field, it is a new opportunity,” Mullens said. “It is a huge opportunity. The goal is to play as long as you can. The only way to do that is to prove it each and every day and each and every opportunity. This is just the next opportunity. I have been blessed in some really different ways to get my opportunities so it is up to me and up to our team to really go and take advantage of them.”

Of the 22 players listed as starters by the Browns, four offensive and three defensive players remained on the COVID-19 list on Monday. Several starters, including Johnson, offensive guard Wyatt Teller and linebacker Anthony Walker, were activated in recent days. Other key players, tight end David Njoku and defensive end Takkarist McKinley were also activated. 

Given the challenges of an evolving roster, coach Kevin Stefanski said on Saturday the team has adjusted. 

“I think the coaches have done a great job and I think the players have done a great job of being able to adapt in all of this,” he said. “That is something that we have seen from the team – certainly, last year, and I have seen it this year from the guys. That is part of our job as coaches is to find out who is available to us and put together a plan based on who is available to us.”

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