Coronavirus: Baltimore Ravens’ Dez Bryant distances himself from tweet suggesting his season is over

Dez Bryant has distanced himself from an earlier tweet suggesting his 2020 NFL season is over after the wide receiver tested positive for coronavirus.

The Baltimore Ravens player missed Tuesday night’s game against his former team the Dallas Cowboys – a game Baltimore won 34-17 – after returning a positive point-of-care rapid test minutes before kick-off.

The 32-year-old subsequently took to Twitter and questioned whether the game should have gone ahead after news of his diagnosis.

Yea I’m going to go ahead and call it a quit for the rest of the season… I can’t deal with this

Since I tested positive for Covid before the game do the game stop or go on? @NFL

“Yea I’m going to go ahead and call it a quit for the rest of the season, I can’t deal with this,” Bryant said.

“Since I tested positive for COVID-19 before the game do the game stop or go on? @NFL.”

However he later appeared to row back on his previous comments, adding “Yea I’m coming back… I’m being smart.”

Yea I’m coming back… I’m being smart https://t.co/9RjQcahTJs

NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reported that Baltimore – owing to the team’s close proximity to the test lab – receive their test results the same day rather than overnight.

With the game starting just after 8pm, the re-testing process meant Bryant was at the stadium before he was taken off the field.

Pelissero added that all other Baltimore players tested negative and no high-risk close contacts were identified.

One more note: The NFL did its usual contact tracing, including Kinexon tracking data and interviews, and did not determine any high-risk close contacts. Same procedures as any other positive test. Prepared to pull those if identified, but none were identified. So, only Dez out.

Part of the NFL’s criteria for determining whether a player was a high-risk close contact or not is whether the player was exposed to the infected individual while not wearing a mask.

Whenever a player tests positive for coronavirus, the league conducts contact tracing and determines who qualifies as a high-risk close contact.

Baltimore had signed Bryant to their practice squad on October 27 and the receiver played in three games for the Ravens, recording four receptions for 28 yards – his first NFL action in almost two years.

He previously spent eight seasons with the Cowboys before his release after the 2017 season.

He was a free agent for seven months before signing a deal with the New Orleans in November 2018, however Bryant tore his Achilles tendon two days after signing with the Saints.

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