After testing positive for COVID-19 earlier this month, Ravens wide receiver Dez Bryant was back in action and recorded his first touchdown since 2017 in Sunday’s game against the Jaguars.
Bryant’s 11-yard score lifted Baltimore ahead 25-0 just before halftime of the Ravens’ 40-14 win. It was his only catch of the game.
The Ravens signed the three-time Pro Bowler to their practice squad in October after he spent the previous two seasons rehabbing an Achilles injury he sustained in November 2018 with the Saints. He was promoted to the active roster in November.
Shortly before kickoff of the Ravens’ Dec. 8 matchup with the Cowboys, his former team, Bryant tested positive for COVID-19, was pulled from warmup and missed two games.
Bryant announced his positive test on Twitter and threatened to quit football. As part of a tweetstorm he said he was going to “drink some wine and cope.” Two days later, Bryant revealed he had back-to-back negative tests. He ended up spending five days on the reserve/COVID-19 list and was activated on Tuesday.
As a result of the 32-year-old’s late positive test, which came after the Ravens turned in their inactive list, the NFL reshaped its rules regarding team’s abilities to replace players who have gone on the Reserve/COVID-19 list.
The league announced this past week that if a team loses a player to COVID-19 after their inactive list has already been turned in, the team will be allowed to activate another player to replace the one who was lost.
Since the NFL rules at the time prevented the Ravens from replacing Bryant, Baltimore went into their eventual 34-17 win over the Cowboys with one fewer active player.
Coming into Sunday’s game against Jacksonville, the 2014 receiving touchdowns leader has accumulated four receptions for 28 yards on seven targets.