The Patriots have three players on the COVID list, and it's unclear whether if it is coincidence or not, but two of them were together outside the Gillette Stadium facility last weekend.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Cam Newton and Stephon Gilmore had dinner together last Friday night.
“I happen to believe — I was told that, in the New England area over the weekend, that Cam Newton and Stephon Gilmore were spotted having dinner together on Friday night,” Schefter said Wednesday on 97.5 The Fanatic in Philadelphia. “So, and I was aware of that over the weekend. So to hear that he tested positive, I got to be honest, is not overly surprising to me. You know, if you’re at a dinner table with somebody who’s got the virus, there’s a chance — I would think — that you’re going to get the virus.”
The Patriots’ statement last Saturday morning said the player who tested positive (Newton) learned of it “late [Friday] night,” so it would seem Newton did not know at the time he was positive.
Gilmore, like all other Patriots players and staffers, tested negative until Tuesday.
Both players are said to be asymptomatic.
The Patriots did not have any positive tests from Wednesday's testing.