Baltimore Ravens receiver Dez Bryant says he tested positive for COVID-19 minutes before kickoff
Baltimore Ravens receiver Dez Bryant announced Tuesday that he has tested positive for COVID-19. The announcement came just 30 minutes before the Ravens were set to take on the Dallas Cowboys, Bryant's former team.
"Tell me why they pull me from warming up so I can go get tested... my s*** come back positive... I tested positive for Covid WTF," the former Pro Bowler wrote on Twitter.
"Yea I'm going to go ahead and call it a quit for the rest of the season... I can't deal with this," he added in a follow up tweet.
The Ravens said in a tweet only that "WR Dez Bryant has been scratched from tonight's game due to an illness."
Bryant was pulled from the lineup, but the game went on as scheduled. A spokesperson for the NFL told CBS News that Bryant received inconclusive results from a prior test while he was warming up before the game. He was then taken off the field and given a rapid test which came back positive. It is not clear how much contact Bryant had with coaches or other players before he tested positive.
"Since I tested positive for Covid before the game do the game stop or go on? @NFL" the receiver asked on Twitter shortly after the game began.
Since I tested positive for Covid before the game do the game stop or go on? @NFL
— Dez Bryant (@DezBryant) December 9, 2020
"Contact tracing was conducted from yesterday and today using the contact tracing device of the infected person and the standard interviews," the league spokesperson told CBS News. "There were no high-risk contacts identified. No other players were positive."
The NFL does not normally play games on Tuesdays, but the coronavirus pandemic has prompted a series of schedule shifts this year. The Ravens' planned Thanksgiving day game was postponed to the following Wednesday after a slew of players, including their top two running backs and reigning MVP Lamar Jackson, were placed on the COVID-19 reserve lsit.
After eight seasons with the Cowboys, Bryant was released by the team in 2018. He signed with the New Orleans Saints midway through the 2018 season, but tore his achilles tendon just two days later and would end up never playing for that team. Bryant signed with the Ravens in October 2020 and caught his first pass since 2017 on November 21 against the Tennessee Titans.