TAMPA, Fla. — Tampa Bay coach Bruce Arians would like to see the NFL expand an investigation of the COVID-19 vaccination status of two players on his team to include other rosters around the league.
The league has suspended Buccaneers wide receiver Antonio Brown and safety Mike Edwards for three games for misrepresenting their status with fake vaccination cards.
But Arians says those may not be the only cases of their kind across the league.
"There's a lot more to the story," Arians told reporters Friday, according to ESPN. "I just hope they don't stop looking."
NFL sources reportedly told ESPN that officials spent the past week calling teams to inquire whether players who had gotten COVID received their vaccines on-site at the team's training facility or off-site at another location.
While there don't appear to be any active investigations over fake vaccine cards, the company reports that league officials want to determine whether any other players have misrepresented their vaccine status.
Before the suspensions, the Buccaneers had released a statement saying personnel had previously reviewed vaccination cards from all players and that "no irregularities were observed." The NFL will not fine the Bucs for the subsequent revelations.
To date, Arians said the Buccaneers have done all they can to ensure COVID-safety, adding that the team has never had an outbreak in a position room.
"I will say this. In the last two years, I don't know if there's been a team better against COVID than we have been, alright, this is a setback because of what happened but we have done an amazing job," he said.