First Call: More covid questions for Ravens, Steelers' future at running back is cloudy

Thursday’s “First Call” has an ominous projection for the future of Steelers running back James Conner. Ben Roethlisberger’s praise for Josh Allen rings true. More covid-19 questions surrounding the Baltimore Ravens. And a look at how some of Baltimore’s returning players could actually help the Steelers.

All about Allen

On Wednesday, Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger referred to Bills quarterback Josh Allen as “MVP caliber.”

According to the latest gambling odds, Big Ben isn’t exaggerating.

Via Pointsbet.com, Allen is now +1500 to win the NFL MVP award. That’s better than the likes of Russell Wilson, Tom Brady and Roethlisberger.

Only two players have shorter odds than Allen. Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is the favorite at -500. Green Bay QB Aaron Rodgers is next at +460.

Allen is fourth in completion percentage (69.9%), fifth in passing yards (3,403) and tied for sixth with 26 touchdown passes.

More covid concerns

Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but there are concerns about the Ravens and covid-19 testing.

Did you stop me?

Prior to Baltimore’s game against Dallas on Tuesday night, Dez Bryant was seen on the field participating in individual warmups. That was about an hour before the Ravens were notified of an inconclusive test for the receiver.

By that point, Bryant had already been seen interacting with players, including some embraces with former Dallas teammates. At times, he was without a mask.

When asked for an explanation as to why more players weren’t pulled out of the game via close contact with a potentially positive player, the NFL insisted Wednesday that it did not ignore tracing standards.

Via Jamison Hensley at ESPN.com, “The NFL did not identify any high-risk close contacts after interviewing Bryant as well as other club personnel and reviewing data from his contact-proximity tracker.”

Hensley provided a quote from NFL Chief Medical Officer Dr. Allen Sills, “Our same exact contact-tracing process was followed last night as what we do in every single case … The fact that we were able to do it fairly quickly is not reflective of a lack of thoroughness in the process. It’s just simply the amount of data that was available to be sorted through allowed us to do that.”

Sills claims Bryant’s positive test isn’t likely to be linked to the other Ravens outbreak that delayed the Steelers game from Thanksgiving to Dec. 2.

This is weird

The Steelers are in the odd position of rooting for the Ravens this week. They visit Cleveland on Monday night. The Ravens are 7-5, with two of those losses coming to the Steelers. So the Ravens can’t catch the Steelers for the AFC North.

However, the Browns (9-3) still can. So it’d be nice for the Steelers if their buddies in Baltimore can pull off a win this week to slow Cleveland’s recent momentum. The Browns have won five times in six tries since they were thumped 38-7 at Heinz Field.

The Ravens thrashed the Browns, 38-6, at home in the season opener. And the Ravens are coming off a 34-17 victory over Dallas on Tuesday night. Quarterback Lamar Jackson and running back J.K. Dobbins returned in that game. They had been a part of the covid-19 protocol list. Both contributed heavily as Baltimore racked up an amazing 294 rushing yards.

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— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) December 9, 2020

The Ravens are getting more good news in terms of players returning from covid lockdown for this game. Pro Bowlers Mark Andrews (TE) and Matthew Judon (OLB) will be back Monday as well.

Don’t rule it out

Steelers running back James Conner will be back on the active roster Sunday night in Buffalo. That’s following a two-game covid-related absence.

But former Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew doesn’t expect Conner to be on it in 2021. In fact, he says the Steelers opening day running back for next year isn’t on the roster at all.

Jones-Drew posted a column for NFL.com in which he highlighted four teams that currently do not have next year’s starter at that position on their payroll. And the Steelers were one of them.

The other three were the Jets, Falcons and Texans.

As Jones-Drew points out, Conner is about to hit free agency. And the combination of Benny Snell, Anthony McFarland and Jaylen Samuels has done very little to impress on the ground of late.

“As much as the Steelers like (Conner), I don’t know how they justify paying a guy who isn’t always readily available,” Jones-Drew said. “Snell, McFarland and Samuels have all been fine, but trotting one of these guys out there as the Day 1 starter tasked with complementing a stellar air attack doesn’t excite me much. Looks like it’s back to the draft for Pittsburgh.”

I agree about letting Conner walk in free agency. But even if the Steelers do draft his potential long-term replacement in April, my guess is Snell or McFarland will still be the starter in Week 1, only to see “Rookie RB X” seize the job within the first month.

Unless the Steelers blow off running backs in the draft entirely since they have so many other needs and don’t have a lot of salary cap space. Then McFarland or Snell better develop big time in the offseason.

I’m not holding my breath.