Dez Bryant Was Hugging Cowboys Players Before He Tested Positive and the Game Still Went On

Dez Bryant was a very late scratch from the Baltimore Ravens Tuesday Night Football game against the Dallas Cowboys. Bryant was understandably upset about having his comeback cut short by a positive COVID-19 test result. On top of that, he had to miss a game against his former team. And that's where it starts to look bad for the NFL.

Bryant spent time before the game greeting his old teammates. One Ravens employee tweeted and deleted a picture of Bryant that showed him hugging Cowboys players. Between that and those players then going back to the Dallas locker room, you would assume that would be enough to at least delay the game, if not postpone it. According to ESPN, protocols were followed.

"Immediately after being pulled from the field, Bryant sat for a contact-tracing interview with league and NFL Players Association officials, who also uploaded data from a movement-tracking device Bryant was wearing, a source told ESPN. Based on the interview and the results from the device, officials felt confident there were no high-risk close contacts, according to sources. According to the league's COVID-19 policy, close contact does not include brief interactions, such as walking past someone."

Here are some images of Bryant before the game.

Bryant probably didn't interact with anyone long enough to infect them, but this just looks bad. This is the opposite of the "abundance of caution" that teams keep saying in their single helmet press releases where they announce that one or more person in the organization has tested positive for COVID-19. The Ravens have been dealing with an outbreak that forced them to play on a Wednesday and a Tuesday. This sure looks like the NFL trying to stick to their original 17-week schedule.