Getty Cole Beasley
The New England Patriots won’t have to worry about WR Cole Beasley when they rematch the Buffalo Bills on Sunday in Foxboro.
The Bills’ top-notch slot receiver has landed on the COVID-19 list and has been ruled out of the game. Beasley has tested positive and per his Instagram account, he indicated he is experiencing “mild symptoms.”
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Cole Beasley Takes Umbrage With His Status for the Patriots Game
Beasley, a vocal anti-vaxxer also took to Instagram to state COVID wasn’t keeping him out of the crucial AFC East matchup with the Patriots, it is instead “the rules” that are barring him from participating.
Beasley wrote: “Just to be clear Covid is not keeping me out of this game. The rules are. Vaxxed players are playing with Covid every week now because they don’t test. One of my vaxxed teammates is in the hospital missing games. I’m sure he didn’t get this same energy. Thank you for those who support. Everyone else, if you don’t get what’s happening then there is nothing anybody can do for you.”
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The “rules” Beasley is referring to are the updated regulations that allow vaccinated players to return to the field quicker, if they test positive, but are asymptomatic. ESPN’s Dan Graziano wrote about the update in a recent article.
“The league and the NFLPA will institute changes in the return-to-play COVID-19 protocols that will make it easier for players who are vaccinated and asymptomatic to return to practice and games,” Graziano wrote. “Under the previous protocols, a vaccinated individual who tests positive for COVID-19 has to produce two negative tests 24 hours apart before being cleared to return.” The new protocols relax that requirement and could enable teams such as the Cleveland Browns, Los Angeles Rams and Washington Football Team to get some players back for this weekend’s games.”
The NFL has changed the manner in which they deal with vaccinated players and there is a very important new acronym you’re likely to see referenced in the coming months as it pertains to infected athletes’ eligibility to return after testing positive.
“In creating the new return-to-play protocols, the NFL and NFLPA focused on a new metric that measures the viral load of a player, known as the “cycle threshold” (CT),” Graziano explained. “In essence, the CT value can measure whether a player is still contagious, even if in some cases he would still test positive on a traditional test.”
The CT is one of the newer COVID-related concepts for fans to consider as they watch the news spread in relation to athletes and teams impacted by the virus. There is more crucial information to absorb that will help to paint a clearer picture, and the details poke a few holes in Beasley’s IG take.
“That testing can begin as soon as one day after the initial positive and could significantly shorten the amount of time a vaccinated player spends away from the team facility,” Graziano wrote as he began to break down the three ways for vaccinated players to return to the football field if they test positive for COVID.
Per Graziano’s article, they are as followed:
• Two PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests that are either negative or produce a CT value of 35 or greater.
• One PCR test that is either negative or produces a CT value of 35 or greater, and a negative Mesa test result taken with 24 hours of the PCR test. (Mesa tests usually return results in less than an hour.)
• Two negative Mesa tests.
According to Dr. Allen Stills, people with a CT level of 35 or more cannot transmit the COVID-19 virus and are not contagious. That’s a major component and you have to wonder how long it will be before that becomes a factor in other industries aside from athletics.
The Bills Are Going to Miss Cole Beasley
From a pure football standpoint, the Bills playing without Beasley gives Josh Allen and Buffalo one less inside passing option. There was a chance Jalen Mills might have been assigned to check Beasley while J.C. Jackson followed Stefon Diggs around all night.
Buffalo is expected to turn to Jake Kumerow and Isaiah McKenzie to pick up the slack. The 32-year-old Beasley is having a down year by his most recent standards.
Through 14 games, he has 76 receptions for 640 yards and a TD. In 2020, Beasley amassed 82 receptions for 967 yards and 4 TDs in 15 games. If he is back for the Bills’ final two games of the season, he could still have a shot at getting close to his 2020 stats.
Even with his numbers down, Allen has come to see Beasley as something of a security blanket, so there will be an adjustment to his absence.
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