The No. 1 question with NFL teams heading into training camp is not how will the team be this coming season, it's how many players are fully vaccinated?
According to reports, 27 teams have more than 70% of their players vaccinated and it seems like the Patriots are in that category.
“I don't know. Quite a few of them," Bill Belichick said Tuesday when asked for the percentage of Patriots players vaccinated. "Most of them, probably. But, whatever the protocols are we’ll follow them. Those are individual decisions. There are categories for everybody. Wherever they fit, they fit.”
Players who are not vaccinated have much different and stricter protocols than those who are, including having to wear different color wristbands to indicate they are unvaccinated.
The Patriots did lose co-offensive line coach Cole Popovich due to COVID-19 vaccine reasons, as it seems he did not get the shot.
“From a staff standpoint, Carm (Carmen Bricillo) will coach the offensive line and these are really all things that play off the protocols from the league and so forth, so I am not going to get into that any further. It is what it is," Belichick said.
And now that the players have reported and training camp begins Wednesday, it seems Belichick would like to focus solely on football.
“Really from this point on, I am focused on football and trying to get our team ready to go," he said. "Try and get our staff ready to go, including myself. We all have a long way to go.”
