Buffalo Bills defensive backs Siran Neal and Dane Jackson were both added to the team’s Reserve/COVID-19 list on Thursday afternoon. Like their teammates Vincent Taylor, Duke Williams, and Ike Brown, these Bills will be asked to quarantine at home until they pass the league’s testing and treatment protocols.
Because a player can land on the list due to either a positive coronavirus test or because of coming into close contact with a person who tested positive for the virus, the exact timeline of when they can be considered safe to return to facilities is up in the air. As one example of the fluidity of the situation, the rookie Jackson was presumably tested (and not included on the initial cut of the reserve list) earlier in the week, but didn’t land on the list until Thursday.
According to ESPN’s Marcel Louis-Jacques, Neal tested positive on Wednesday after testing negative on Tuesday. They are continuing to test him and hoping for a false positive.
Jackson, Buffalo’s seventh round pick in the 2020 draft, was vying to make the roster as a reserve defensive back behind players like Tre’ White, Josh Norman, E.J. Gaines, and Taron Johnson. Neal’s path is more clear-cut: entering his third career season, he’s developed into a special teams ace and a versatile reserve in the back seven of Buffalo’s defense.