Dante Fowler Jr. Placed on Reserve/COVID-19 List During Falcons' Bye Week

The Atlanta Falcons announced that they have placed defensive end Dante Fowler Jr. on the reserve/COVID-19 list.

As Justin Felder of Fox 5 Sports in Atlanta noted, Fowler's placement on the list means he either tested positive or was in close contact with someone who has.

Atlanta is on a bye this week. The Falcons' next game is scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 22, at 1 p.m. ET at the New Orleans Saints.

Fowler, 26, has 17 tackles, six quarterback hits and two sacks in eight games for the Falcons. He joined Atlanta on a three-year, $45 million contract last offseason after playing with the Jacksonville Jaguars and Los Angeles Rams during the first four years of his career.

Players' timetables for returning off the reserve/COVID-19 list are dependent on whether they tested positive in addition to exhibited symptoms (if any), per Tadd Haislop of Sporting News.

An asymptomatic player can return 10 days following a positive test. However, a player can also return after five days if he gets a pair of negative PCR virus tests within 24 hours of that five-day period.

A symptomatic player must wait 10 days after symptoms first appeared and 72 hours until after symptoms ended. That player must also take additional tests and be cleared by his team's head physician before returning.

Players who tested positive must also undergo cardiac screening.

All NFL players are tested for COVID-19 on a daily basis except for on game days. The daily tests also occur during bye weeks, which was the case for Fowler.