Buccaneers WR Antonio Brown placed on COVID-19 list, could miss Week 3 game vs. Rams

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers' Antonio Brown has been placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list, the team announced Wednesday.

He joins linebacker Kevin Minter and practice squad wide receiver Travis Jonsen, who have both been placed on the list over the past week.

The Bucs are 100 percent vaccinated. While they didn't announce whether Brown had tested positive, the NFL only requires vaccinated players to go on the reserve/COVID-19 list if they test positive. (Unvaccinated players are placed on the list if they test positive or are a close contact of someone who tested positive.)

Will AB miss Week 3 game vs. Rams?

The NFL's timeline for a vaccinated player to get off the COVID-19 list makes it likely that he'll miss Sunday's big game against the Los Angeles Rams. A vaccinated player who tests positive needs to be asymptomatic, and also needs two negative tests 24 hours apart to return to normal team activities. That could mean Saturday, or it could mean next week. Even if Brown gets two negative tests over the next few days, he'll still be cutting it close to be ready for Sunday's game

That's no small thing since Brown has been a big part of the Bucs' offense over the season thus far. He's been on the field for 70 offensive snaps and is second on the team in receiving yards with 138. He had a monster performance against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 1, tallying five catches and one touchdown for 121 total yards.

The Bucs aren't in danger of running out of receivers. They have enough depth to make it work without Brown this week, and could activate Jaelon Darden, a 2021 fourth-round draft pick who has been inactive for the first two weeks of the season.