Buffalo Bills wide receiver Cole Beasley said on social media Friday that he has spoken with the NFL Players Association about his issues with the NFL’s new virus policies.
Beasley said he is not inoculated against COVID-19 and made it clear he did not want to receive the vaccine.
“Now we have spoken and are working through it,” Beasley wrote in a reply tweet to a Bills reporter. “From what Ive (sic) been told these are guidelines for preseason and it’s nothing final.”
On Thursday, Beasley aired complaints about the league’s updated COVID-19 protocols for training camp and the preseason, which allow for fully vaccinated players to return mostly to how things were done before the pandemic but keeps stricter guidelines in place for unvaccinated individuals.
Beasley, 32, called the NFLPA a “joke” and asked if anyone will “fight for the players.”
The NFL is not requiring players to get vaccinated. However, its new protocols may encourage some to do so due to the lesser restrictions.
Unvaccinated players will still need to be tested daily for COVID-19 and must keep wearing masks while in team facilities. They cannot interact with anyone outside of their team’s traveling party when on the road. And they will still be required to quarantine if deemed a close contact of a high-risk COVID exposure.
For vaccinated players, these guidelines will be removed or loosened.
Other NFL players, including Washington edge rusher Montez Sweat and Carolina quarterback Sam Darnold, have expressed skepticism or uncertainty about whether to receive the vaccine.
The three vaccines authorized in the U.S. have all been deemed safe by the CDC and have high levels of efficacy.
“I’m not going to take meds for a leg that isn’t broken,” Beasley wrote in another post Friday. “I’d rather take my chances with Covid and build up immunity that way.”
Beasley set career highs with 82 catches and 967 receiving yards in 2020, his second season in Buffalo after playing seven seasons with the Dallas Cowboys.
–Field Level Media