Patriots' Bill Belichick: No Cam Newton, Stephon Gilmore at Saturday's practice
When the Patriots hold their first and only practice of the week, they’ll do so without quarterback Cam Newton and cornerback Stephon Gilmore.
On Saturday morning, Bill Belichick met with the media, and although he didn’t reveal much about his team’s plans heading into its rescheduled Monday evening game against Denver, he did give a brief update on two of his most important players.
Newton has been out since testing positive for COVID-19 on Oct. 2. If he’s asymptomatic, he’s eligible to return after he produces two negative results in two days, 24 hours apart. If he has symptoms, he must wait 10 days. When asked whether he anticipated the quarterback being at practice Saturday, Belichick replied, “I don’t.”
The same COVID-19 rules apply for Gilmore, who tested positive on Wednesday. When asked whether the cornerback would practice, Belichick said, “No.”
Of course, that doesn’t necessarily mean Newton and Gilmore wouldn't play on Monday. If they don’t have symptoms and produce two negative results Saturday and Sunday, they would be eligible to return with doctors' approval. Belichick wouldn’t comment on that scenario.
“I’m not getting into a bunch of hypotheticals,” Belichick said. “I just told you that. We’re taking it day-by-day. Hour-by-hour.”
The same motto applied for his quarterback position. At this point, it's not clear whether Jarrett Stidham or Brian Hoyer would start if Newton can’t play. Last week, Hoyer was pulled from the Patriots' 26-10 loss in Kansas City after throwing for 130 yards with an interception. Stidham took over at the end of the third quarter and threw for 60 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions.
When asked who he planned to start at quarterback, Belichick responded, “We’re taking it day-by-day. Today is Saturday morning.” When asked whether his depth chart still went Newton-Hoyer-Stidham, Belichick simply said, “Day-by-day.”
This week, Gilmore became the third Patriots player to test positive for COVID-19. Practice squad defensive tackle Bill Murray tested positive on Tuesday. The two positive results forced the NFL to move the Patriots-Broncos game from Sunday to Monday. The Patriots shut down the facility and canceled their scheduled practices on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
According to the NFL Network, the Patriots didn’t have any positive test results on Saturday morning, which is why they reopened their facility. Saturday’s practice was their first and only of the week. The team will hold a walkthrough on Sunday.
“We’ll just see how we progress and as we find out more on our end, or if there are other things externally that we can’t control that affect us, then we’ll deal with those as they come," Belichick said. "That’s the way it’s been all year.
"Our team and players have done a good job of handling those adjustments and will continue to do that. We’re just going to try and get through the day here today and prepare the best that we can for the Broncos and the opportunity that we have here today. Then we’ll reevaluate things where we are after that and continue our preparations up until game time.”
mdaniels@providencejournal.com