The Buffalo Bills sent their rookies home from the team’s facility as a response to five positive coronavirus tests this week, the team said in a statement to ESPN.
“As we were informed by medical experts as training camp opened, we expected to have positive tests for COVID,” the team said in a statement. “With five since the beginning of the testing period last Tuesday, we decided to take a disciplined, proactive and preventative approach to hopefully eliminate additional cases within our team.”
Mike Garafolo of NFL Network initially reported that a couple of players tested positive for COVID-19, which led to the team deciding to conduct their meetings virtually.
Players must produce three negative tests in a five-day span in order to enter the facility under the NFL’s new training camp policy. The league and the NFLPA also agreed that teams will hold virtual meetings whenever possible and place restrictions on how many players can be in certain rooms, in order to follow social distancing rules.
The Bills had rookies report to the facility on July 21 to begin testing. Ike Brown was the first player to be placed on the team’s reserve/COVID-19 list on Monday, followed by defensive tackle Vincent Taylor and wide receiver Duke Williams on Wednesday.
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