‘Dez Bryant Rule’ will give teams additional roster flexibility on gameday
The Baltimore Ravens were forced to play one man short in their 34-17 victory over the Dallas Cowboys in Week 13 because veteran wide receiver Dez Bryant produced a positive COVID-19 test hours before the game and had to be immediately sent home.
By the time that team brass was informed that Bryant wouldn’t be eligible to play in the Tuesday night interconference matchup against his former employers, they had already submitted their list of inactive players to the league and weren’t allowed to activate any of those players or call up anyone from their practice squad.
While it left the Ravens shorthanded at the receiver position, it ultimately didn’t prove costly in the eventual outcome of the game. However, according to the NFL Network’s Tom Pellisero, an allowance will be made for another player to be activated if any team faces the same situation moving forward.
The deadline for submitting the active roster is 90 minutes before kickoff and per the memo that Pellisero shared on social media, the new procedure states that a team can now activate another player to replace someone who has tested positive on game day or has been deemed a high-risk close contact, up to 30 minutes before kickoff.
The replacement could be a player who was originally declared as inactive, or an eligible member of the practice squad as a COVID-19 replacement so that it preserves there a free call up.
Pelissero referred to the rule adjustment that many around the league had advocated for as “The Dez Bryant Rule.”
In addition to missing the team’s win over the Cowboys, Bryant was forced to watch from home as the Ravens came out on top of the leading candidate for “Game of the Year” in 47-42 instant classic on Monday Night Football in Week 14.
Bryant was activated from the Reserve/COVID-19 List after a short five-day stint on Tuesday and will be eligible to play in Week 15 when the Ravens host the 1-12 Jacksonville Jaguars.
