Bills receiver Cole Beasley says Covid-19 protocols may force him into retirement

In a letter posted Friday to his Twitter account, the Buffalo Bills' receiver writes that if he's "forced into retirement, so be it," based on his apparent dissatisfaction with the agreement between the NFL and the league’s players’ association regarding how the 2021 season will be conducted for players who have been vaccinated versus those who have not.

"Look, I'm going to live my one life like I want to regardless …" is how Beasley starts his letter, before continuing "Hi, I'm Cole Beasley and I'm not vaccinated! I will be outside doing what I do. I'll be out in the public. If your (sic) scared of me then (sic) steer clear, or get vaccinated. Point. Blank. Period."

Beasley has generated plenty of headlines this offseason with his questioning of the Covid-19 vaccine but Friday was easily the most outspoken he's been on the topic. 

"I may die of Covid, but I'd rather die actually living," he wrote. "I have family members whose days are numbered. If they want to come see me and stay at my house then they are coming regardless of protocol. I don't play for the money anymore. My family has been taken care of. Fine me if you want. My way of living and my values are more important to me than a dollar."

Beasley has been a frequent poster on social media recently. He called the NFL Players’ Association a “joke" Thursday during a string of tweets.

“Call it something different,” he wrote on his verified account, which has more than 451,000 followers. “It’s not for the players.”

On Friday, Beasley tweeted that he had spoken with the NFLPA and that they are "working through it." He added that he's been told the new guidelines are for the preseason and that nothing has been finalized for the regular season. 

Beasley’s frustration apparently was set off from a tweet by NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, laying out the differences for vaccinated and unvaccinated players. Included among those: Daily testing for unvaccinated players (versus weekly for vaccinated), no masks required at the team facility and during travel for vaccinated players, no need to physically distance from other vaccinated individuals at the team facility, no need to quarantine after high-risk exposure to a Covid-19 positive person and no capacity limits in the weight room for those who are vaccinated, among other benefits. Vaccinated players are also allowed to eat in the team cafeteria with other vaccinated individuals, while those who are not vaccinated must be physically distanced in meal rooms and may not eat with teammates.

Additionally, vaccinated players may interact with vaccinated family and friends on road trips, while unvaccinated players are not permitted to leave the team hotel to eat in restaurants or interact with anyone outside of the team's traveling party. 

“This is crazy. Did we vote on this? I stay in the hotel,” Beasley wrote Thursday. “We still have meetings. We will all be together. Vaccinated players can go out the hotel and bring Covid back in to where I am. So what does it matter if I stay in the hotel now – 100% immune with vaccination? No.”

Predictably, people on social media pushed back on Beasley’s stance – not a surprise given how polarizing anything having to do with the pandemic has become.

“Everyone gives me the 98 percent of people who are vaccinated don’t get Covid again. The odds of me getting in the NFL and playing for 10 years are lower than that and I’m here,” Beasley wrote. “So what are we really talking about? I understand completely why the NFL is doing this. It gives them back the freedom to make the most money as possible again if everyone is vaccinated. But will anyone fight for the players or nah?”

Beasley finished – for the night – with one more plea for the NFLPA to change its ways.

“I don’t know who I need to talk to, but someone has to get it right,” he wrote. "That’s why I’m on here. Hopefully the right people will see it and at least think about how all this NFLPA stuff works. It needs to be changed.”

Beasley has become perhaps the NFL's most outspoken voice when it comes to the topic of vaccination. By Friday, he was continuing his back and forth with his followers on social media, some of whom agreed with his stance and several of whom took issue with the points he raised.

Responding to someone asking him to be vaccinated for the good of the community and the team, Beasley responded, "I get tested every day for Covid and get a negative test, but I still have to keep distance from people who are 'vaccinated' when apparently if they get it they can't pass it to anyone. How does that make sense to you?"

A short time later, Beasley tweeted that he spoke to a doctor.

"You can still pass Covid to the next individual if vaccinated. You haven't done any research if it's based off what you read or people told you whether they are a scientist or not," he wrote. "A doctor has been wrong about my injuries before."

Beasley later pointed out that, "everybody is so all in on science now more than I have ever seen. What happen (sic) to God's will?"

A follower pointed out that vaccinations are a choice, but asked if Beasley would let a doctor repair an injury were he to get hurt. For example, the receiver underwent core-muscle surgery in 2019. 

"Depends on the injury," Beasley responded. "When I get sick, I naturally get better. If I don't, then it was my time. Nobody is gonna be here forever."

At the end of the 2020 season, Beasley played through a leg injury suffered in Week 16 of the regular season. He missed the next week against Miami, but returned to play in all three playoff games.

After the team was eliminated in the AFC Championship Game against Kansas City, Beasley told reporters that he played through a partially broken fibula.

"It's nothing that needs to be surgically repaired. It's not a full break," he said. "It was bad the first game I played, but after that you take a few meds and suck it up."

On Friday, Beasley seemed to dispute that.

"I'm not going to take meds for a leg that isn't broken," he wrote. "I'd rather take my chances with Covid and build up immunity that way. Eat better. Drink water. Exercise and do what I think is necessary to be a healthy individual. That is MY CHOICE based on MY experiences and what I think is best.

"I'll play for free this year to live life how I've lived it from day one. If I'm forced into retirement, so be it. I've enjoyed the times I've had. I'll get to live freely with my wife, kids and extended family forever. We'd get to enjoy the times that we missed from the sacrifices we've had to make just so I could play this wonderful game. So either way. It's a win/win."