Lamar Jackson Caught COVID Again, Proving Some People Will Never Learn

Lamar Jackson at training camp before catching COVID again.
Lamar Jackson at training camp before catching COVID again. / Scott Taetsch/Getty Images
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Lamar Jackson has tested positive for COVID. Again. And he is reportedly not vaccinated. So he's missing time in training camp. Jackson missed the Ravens' week 12 game against the Pittsburgh Steelers last season when he landed on the COVID-19 list. Now here we are again.

This is one of those "I feel like I'm taking crazy pills" moments. Just look at these quotes from John Harbaugh about the situation. Via the Baltimore Sun:

"Whenever you have a problem, whenever something comes up like that, you embrace it, almost rejoice in it because it's an opportunity to improve somewhere else. You take advantage of the opportunity to gain an advantage and some other different kind of way."

The Ravens attempt to embrace Jackson's first run around with COVID did not go so well. The Steelers beat the Ravens, 19-14, with Trace McSorely and RGIII combing to complete 9-of-18 passes for 110 yards. It does not seem like they gained an advantage in any way when the league MVP was unavailable.

More Harbaugh.

"He had four good days before that, throwing. So, it’s all good. But it’s no different than if somebody gets an injury. You tweak and ankle or something and you're out for some number of days. It's just part of football."

Part of football! What a sad and basically true thing to believe. The only problem is that this is different from a tweaked ankle because you can play through a tweaked ankle and a tweaked ankle is not contagious. Also, ankle injuries have not killed many people over the last year.

More Harbaugh!

"I can tell you, generally, we’re doing really well in terms of vaccinations and in terms of positive tests. Beyond that, we have no other positive tests. Even Lamar tested negative, up until (this test). It’s just part of the deal, it's just the way the world is right now. We have 90% vaccinated and I think we’re going to go above that, too, real soon here."

Seriously, why are people only focused on Lamar Jackson's positive COVID tests? Nobody wants to talk about all the negative tests he had before and in between contracting the deadly virus.

The one good part of this is that Harbaugh says most of the team is vaccinated and he's hopeful that more will get it. Perhaps Jackson catching it for a second time will be a wakeup call. Or maybe Jackson will need to suffer some side effects before he wakes up. Really, who knows at this point. At least the Ravens aren't literally promoting anti-vaccine rhetoric like the Buffalo Bills are by posting Cole Beasley's talking points online.

Maybe the most incredible part of all this is that Tommy Sweeney, one of Beasley's teammates on the Bills, missed the 2020 season after catching COVID and then developing myocarditis because of it.

Coaches and teams not treating this like the literal pandemic it is will never cease to amaze, but maybe it should. We may never end this pandemic in America because some people just don't get it. The NFL is the same way.