Kirk Cousins vowed to follow the NFL's COVID-19 protocols to avoid contracting the virus or being deemed a close contact ahead of returning to practice Thursday after being activated off the reserve/COVID-19 list.

According to NFL-NFL Players Association protocols, a high-risk close contact designates that a player is also unvaccinated.

"I've come to learn since I've been at home that the tracers we wear actually showed I was not a 'close contact' as I understand being a close contact, which is being within a certain number of feet," Cousins said. "The challenge was, the meeting room we met in was deemed to be too small for us to have been in a room together -- even if we were significantly apart from each other. So we've since moved to a different meeting room, and as I understand it, had we met in a larger room, I would not have missed practice. Because I was not a close contact as deemed by actually being in contact. So it was disappointing to miss practice. In my entire college and pro career, I have not missed four practices. So to miss four practices in one week and not have COVID was frustrating, disappointing."