The Kansas City Chiefs hosted four players for tryouts on Monday, all of whom had already visited the team.

According to the NFL’s transaction report, the Chiefs host DB Rodney Clemons, WR Dalton Schoen, RB Derrick Gore and DT Tyler Clark on visits on Monday. For those keeping track, both Clemons and Clark have spent time on the Chiefs’ practice squad this season, while Schoen and Gore both visited the team in the second week of January. Clemons also recently visited the team.

So why is Kansas City bringing players back that have already visited the team? Well, the NFL’s system for signing free agents during the age of COVID-19 has changed. Players need to be tested for a certain number of days prior to signing with the team. If a position group was wiped out from COVID-19 close contacts, which the Chiefs are going through right now, they wouldn’t be able to immediately sign players unless they had been in the protocol and tested.

The NFL changed their system back in December to allow players to visit teams an unlimited number of times, which in turn allows them to continue testing. Should the Chiefs need to sign any of these players to the practice squad or 53-man roster, they’ll now be able to sign them ahead of Super Bowl LV without any problems. They’ve all likely been staying in Kansas City and their visits tell us that they’re staying in compliance with the NFL’s testing protocols.

Thankfully, it doesn’t look like these players will be needed, but it’s better to be safe than sorry given the current situation with the virus.