OWINGS MILLS, Md. -- Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Dez Bryant on Thursday was put on the reserve/COVID-19 list despite announcing earlier in the day that he again had tested negative for the coronavirus.
By being put on the list, Bryant, who did not practice Thursday, will be out 10 days and will miss Monday's game against the Cleveland Browns.
Bryant tested positive just a half-hour before Tuesday's kickoff against the Dallas Cowboys, his former team, after his tests that morning were inconclusive.
On Thursday, Bryant said on Twitter that it could have been a false positive.
"I tested negative back to back for covid and I'm not excited about it," Bryant posted.
I tested negative back to back for covid and I'm not excited about it
— Dez Bryant (@DezBryant) December 10, 2020
Ravens coach John Harbaugh spoke to reporters Thursday, before Bryant's post.
"He's doing as well as can be expected," Harbaugh said about Bryant. "He's a guy that cares. He sacrificed a lot to leave home and leave family behind. He's a family man and has kids. I think he's pretty hurt by it. He's not mad at anybody. But just the circumstances, I think he's a little stunned by it, surprised that it came up. I think he's trying to work his way through it right now."
On Tuesday, Bryant's test from that morning came back inconclusive around 7 p.m., about an hour before the Cowboys-Ravens game began. The test was rerun and still came back inconclusive. In the meantime, Bryant took a rapid PCR test, which came back positive around 7:30 p.m. He was then ruled out of the game with an illness.
About 10 minutes after the positive test, Bryant was adamant that it wasn't correct.
"The crazy thing is I have the same damn routine," Bryant wrote on Twitter on Tuesday night. "This s--- do not make sense to me."
Bryant became just the second Pro Bowl wide receiver to return to the NFL after missing two full seasons. He began on the practice squad before getting signed to the active roster on Nov. 28. In three games, Bryant has four catches for 28 yards.
Tuesday night marked Bryant's much-anticipated first game against the Cowboys. He was a three-time Pro Bowl player for Dallas from 2010 to 2017, setting a franchise record with 73 touchdown catches.
After he tested positive, Bryant wrote on Twitter that he wasn't going to play again this season, before subsequently acknowledging that he would return.
"I could never speak for another person, because the Twitter stuff and all that, that's something you'd have to ask him," Harbaugh said. "I don't have any answers to that. But that's what we would be planning for, certainly. He's certainly an option. He's a part of our team. And I was really happy with his progress, how he was practicing.
"I don't think it's hard to understand why it would be such a tough thing emotionally, especially with where he's at in his career. I think we could all put ourselves in his shoes on that, for sure. I'm very sympathetic toward that and understanding of it. Ultimately, people make decisions for themselves and that's what they have to do."