Over the weekend, Cam Newton tested positive for COVID-19 and is now on the NFL's COVID-19 list.
Obviously, he will not play Monday night against the Chiefs, but could he next Sunday against the Broncos?
Appearing on The Greg Hill Show Monday morning, ESPN's Adam Schefter laid out the scenarios.
“It’s a great question. Here is the situation there: you have to be asymptomatic for five days. Then, you have to have two negative COVID tests — back-to-back tests." he said. "So again, there are many people that it is a a 24, 48, 72-hour thing and it is not an issue, Other people, it seems to last awhile and then come back in terms of the testing. I know people who have tested positive for weeks after.
"So, I don’t know what is going to happen. But, I can tell you this, the rules, he is no different than anyone else in the NFL and he will have to be asymptomatic for five days. Again, they get the test Friday or Saturday morning, so Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday — at the very least, he wouldn’t be able to practice until the end of this week, in a best-cace scenario.”
If it is best-case scenario, Bill Belichick and Co. would then need to decide whether or not to start him after practicing just once during the week of the game.
“I guess you have to see how tonight goes and then you have to see more importantly whether Cam meets the thresholds to be able to return to practice," Schefter said. "You are asking me could it go past this game? Yeah, it could.”
The Patriots will take on the Chiefs Monday night and then host the Broncos next Sunday afternoon.
