Casey Heyward, NFL Players React to League Postponing Games amid COVID-19

Las Vegas Raiders cornerback Casey Hayward is one of many players unhappy with the NFL's decision to move his team's game this week:

ESPN's Adam Schefter reported the Raiders' game against the Cleveland Browns initially scheduled for Saturday will now be played on Monday at 5 p.m. ET. Schefter also reports the game between the Los Angeles Rams and Seattle Seahawks will be moved to Tuesday night, along with the NFC East battle between the Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Football Team.

Other NFL players had negative reaction to games being moved:

These decisions come amid massive COVID-19 outbreaks around the league.

The Browns have 24 players on the reserve/COVID-19 list, per Jake Trotter of ESPN, including starting quarterback Baker Mayfield and backup Case Keenum. Jadeveon Clowney, Mack Wilson and Tony Fields II were all added to the reserve list on Friday morning. The Rams and Washington have had similar issues this week.

Hayward believes Browns center J.C. Tretter, who is the current president of the NFL Players' Association, helped influence the decision to postpone the game.

The shorthanded teams would have been at a significant competitive disadvantage if the game was played as scheduled, but the league said it wouldn't postpone games for that reason this season.

As NFL Network's Tom Pelissero noted, games were postponed in 2020 because of evidence of ongoing spread. The three Browns players added to the COVID-19 list on Friday seemingly indicates that the virus is still spreading around the organization.

That game is still an important one as both the Raiders (6-7) and Browns (7-6) look to play their way into the playoffs. Both sides are clearly looking to get a fair opportunity ahead of the Week 15 battle.

Washington (6-7) and Philadelphia (6-7) are looking to climb up the division standings in the NFC East, while the Rams (9-4) will try to keep up in the NFC West if they can defeat Seahawks (5-8).