Unvaccinated Bills wide receiver tests positive for COVID-19, put on reserve list

Buffalo Bills wide receiver Cole Beasley, who has been a prominent anti-vaccine voice in sports, has tested positive for the novel coronavirus. 

The team announced on Tuesday that Beasley was placed on its COVID-19 reserve list. 

Beasley, who is in his 10th season in the league, will miss his team’s contest against the New England Patriots on Sunday. 

We’ve placed WR Cole Beasley on the Reserve/COVID-19 list.

OL Evin Ksiezarczyk has been signed to the practice squad. #BillsMafia pic.twitter.com/LNkrLyqAZx

— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) December 21, 2021

NFL Network reporter Ian Rapoport confirmed that Beasley tested positive for the virus, adding that he will be out for 10 days. 

Cole Beasley did in fact test positive. He’s out 10 days. https://t.co/A682LKYEZk

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) December 21, 2021

Beasley has been a prominent voice against vaccines, threatening to defy the NFL’s COVID-19 protocol in now-deleted tweets. 

“Hi, I’m Cole Beasley and I’m not vaccinated,” Beasley posted on Twitter earlier this year. “I will be outside doing what I do. I’ll be out in the public. If your  scared of me then steer clear, or get vaccinated. Point. Blank. Period.” 

“I may die of covid, but I’d rather die actually living. I have family members whose days are numbered. If they want to come see me and stay at my house then they are coming regardless of protocol,” he added.

The NFL recently revised its COVID-19 protocols by loosening testing requirements for fully vaccinated players who are not showing any virus symptoms, ending the weekly testing mandate for those players. 

This is the second time Beasley has been placed on the team’s COVID list; Beasley and teammate wide receiver Gabe Davis were both placed on the list in August after being in close contact with someone who tested positive for the virus, according to Yahoo! Sports.