Dez Bryant’s COVID-19 test may have been false positive

Dez Bryant was pulled off the field during warmups before the Baltimore Ravens’ game against the Dallas Cowboys on Tuesday night after he tested positive for COVID-19. With the way things have gone since, it seems likely the test was a false positive.

Bryant tweeted on Thursday that he has tested negative for the coronavirus on consecutive days, which presumably means Wednesday and Thursday. He expressed frustration over having to miss the big matchup against his former team.

“I tested negative back to back for covid and I’m not excited about it,” Bryant tweeted.

Bryant had not been placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list as of Thursday afternoon, so all signs point toward his test having been a false positive.

There was some question about how Bryant was allowed to take part in pregame warmups if he tested positive, but we explained what happened here.

You can understand why Bryant is angry over the way things turned out, but he is not the first player to have a false positive test this season. That is simply one of the risks of playing amid the coronavirus pandemic. The timing, unfortunately, could not have been worse for the veteran receiver.

Bryant initially said on Twitter Tuesday that he is quitting on the season, but he quickly went back on that. He later tried to explain why he was so crushed.