Earlier on Thursday, the Atlanta Falcons announced they would be working remotely after entering the NFL’s COVID-19 protocol following a positive test from a player on the team. Shortly after 3pm EST, ESPN’s Adam Schefter announced that Falcons’ All-Pro center Alex Mack was the player being placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list.
Falcons placed center Alex Mack on the reserve/COVID-19 list.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) December 31, 2020
Mack was already dealing with a concussion that had him limited in Wednesday’s practice, but he’ll now miss Sunday’s game against Tampa Bay unless his test turns out to be a false-positive. Atlanta is hurting along the offensive line, as left guard James Carpenter was also limited on Wednesday with a groin injury.
That likely marks the end of Mack’s five-year run in Atlanta, and possibly his career. The six-time Pro Bowler is 35 years old and will be a free agent after the season. He is not expected to return to the Falcons, and will evaluate his future after the season.

Jon Ledyard is PewterReport.com's newest Bucs beat writer and has experience covering the Pittsburgh Steelers as a beat writer and analyzing the NFL Draft for several draft websites, including The Draft Network. Follow Ledyard on Twitter at @LedyardNFLDraft