Bills WR Cole Beasley: 'The Rules,' Not COVID-19 Are 'Keeping Me' Out vs. Patriots

Bills wide receiver Cole Beasley will miss Sunday's game vs. the Patriots after testing positive for COVID-19.

Beasley is unvaccinated and must quarantine for 10 days as a result of his positive test. 

The Buffalo wide receiver took to Instagram to confirm his positive test, and provide his own thoughts on the matter. 

“Just to be clear COVID is not keeping me out of this game. The rules are,” he wrote. “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.”

He later added as a response to Bills lineman Jon Feliciano, who is also on the reserve/COVID-19 list, that hospitals are promoting certain treatments instead of others because “then they can't make money on the vaccine.” 

This summer, Beasley was outspoken on social media about this thoughts on the COVID-19 vaccine.

“If your scared of me then steer clear. Point. Blank. Period,” he wrote in a July statement explaining why he had not been vaccinated. “I may die of covid, but I'd rather die actually living.”

Weeks later, on the topic of the league's protocols,  he said, “I'm not anti or pro vax. I'm pro choice. The issue at hand is information is being withheld from players in order for a player to be swayed in a direction that he may not be comfortable with.”

In August, Beasley was fined for violating the league’s COVID-19 protocols for unvaccinated players by failing to wear a mask inside the team’s facility. He was also placed the COVID-19 list after being designated a close contact with a member of the team's training staff, but tested negative at the time.

Beasley, now in his third season with Buffalo, has 76 receptions for 640 yards and one touchdown this season.

The Bills (8–6) are on the road for Sunday's game at New England (9–5). Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. ET.

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