Former Jaguars LT Tony Boselli Details His Experience From Contracting COVID-19

The Jaguars legend spent multiple days in the hospital after testing positive for COVID-19, but the former left tackle has now returned home.

Former Jacksonville Jaguars offensive tackle Tony Boselli, a giant in the franchise's history and in the local community, recently went through a scary ordeal as he contracted COVID-19 and spent multiple days in a Jacksonville-area hospital, an experience he detailed with Jaguars' Radio-Digital Host J.P. Shadrick on the Jaguars Happy Hour radio show on Thursday.

Former ⁦#Jaguars left tackle ⁦⁦@TonyBoselli⁩ discussing his hospitalization for #coronavirus #covid19.... "It's really scary... your mind runs...”

Full audio interview here: https://t.co/1LotgfItvW

⁦@Jaguars⁩ https://t.co/VdmxUcHmz4

— J.P. Shadrick (@jpshadrick) April 2, 2020

Boselli, 47, tested positive for COVID-19 in March, an experience that landed him in the intensive care unit at Mayo Clinic.

"It has been quite a few weeks, but I am feeling better, I am home from the hospital, and I am on the right side of this thing now," Boselli told Shadrick.

"The reason I got tested, I started feeling first just like a cold, didn't think anything of it. Maybe some allergies or something. But I woke up Wednesday morning feeling really lousy, and that same morning I got a phone call saying that I was around an individual that had tested positive. And so at that point I called my doctor at Mayo and said 'Hey here is what is going on. I don't feel great and I just found out that I been around somebody.'"

Boselli said he got tested that Wednesday and two days later received the news that he had tested positive for the virus that has become a pandemic and spread throughout the United States and the rest of the world. 

"And at that point, I was still feeling okay but started going a little downhill over the weekend. Thought I was getting better, and then Tuesday of last week, really started feeling bad and throughout the day was going in the wrong direction. And then Wednesday mid-morning, called my doctor again and told him what was going on and he sent me to the hospital," Boselli told Shadrick. 

"I thought I was just going in to maybe get some fluids and some medicine, and the next thing I knew I was there for five days."

Boselli would eventually be sent to the clinic's intensive care unit, a period he called a 'scary' time. He was restricted from seeing visitors aside from healthcare professionals, and the move to the intensive care unit wasn't one he foresaw happening.

"That was a little bit of a shock, obviously. I mean, No. 1, you don't think it is ever going to be you, that you are going to get it," Boselli told Shadrick Thursday. 

"And then when you do get it, you think, 'I am young, only 47-years-old, I am completely healthy, I have no health issues. This will be kind of a quick thing, turn it around, and get back right to it.' And next thing you know, you re in the ICU and have a bunch of machines hooked up to you and you are on oxygen."

Boselli said he began to turn the corner on Monday and he has returned home in the last few days. The former Pro Bowl offensive tackle said it was a scary experience in which his mind ran while he sat in the intensive care unit, but he is grateful for the doctors, nurses, technicians, and every other person who helped take care of him and return him home to his family.

Boselli also had one other major takeaway from the frightening experience: Have belief in what the medical minds in the country and around the world are telling us about this disease, how dangerous it is, and how to combat it. 

"I think it is a time right now to listen to the healthcare professionals and the experts and what they are telling us," Boselli said on the radio appearance. "Because it is real and they are not making this up. And really think about our community. Let's think about each other and everybody around us."

Boselli was the Jaguars' first-ever draft pick in team history when he was selected with the No. 2 overall pick in 1995. He has since become a beloved figure in the franchise's lore and has been a four-time finalist to be enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the only Jaguars player to be named a finalist for the honor.

The hall of fame spoke out in support of Boselli when he returned home this week, giving him their best wishes as he continues his road to recovery from COVID-19.

“We couldn’t be happier for Tony and his family that he is back home,” David Baker, president and CEO of the Pro Football Hall of Fane, said Wednesday. “We will continue to keep Tony in our thoughts, and we pray that with rest at home and the care of his family and medical team, he can make a full recovery.”