Patriots place four players on COVID reserve
With COVID positives rising around the NFL, the Patriots placed four players on COVID-reserve on Monday. Wide receiver Kendrick Bourne, and linebackers Harvey Langi, Cameron McGrone, and Ronnie Perkins were all placed on the list and tested positive for COVID-19, per All 51 players placed on the COVID list over the last two days were the result of a positive test.
Bourne is the only player currently on the active roster on the list. He leads the team with 667 receiving yards on 45 catches with five touchdowns this season.
McGrone is done for the year after being designated to return from NFI, but not being activated within the three week window. The 2021 fifth-round pick wasn’t expected to play this season after tearing his ACL last November. Perkins is also likely done for the year, having been placed on IR last Saturday.
Langi’s situation is a bit more interesting. He was designated to return from traditional IR on Dec. 2, meaning he needs to be activated by Thursday or he will be lost for the year. However, Harvey Langi who was placed on the Reserve COVID-19 list today was already on IR. The Patriots could remove him from IR and have him be on the COVID-19 list while not needing to make room for him on the 53-man roster.
These are the first Patriots to be placed on COVID reserve under the new protocols that were revealed over the weekend. It is now easier to return for those who are vaccinated, with teams testing how contagious a player is in addition to their positive/negative status. Unvaccinated players are still subject to a 10-day quarantine.
Asked about the new protocols Monday morning, Bill Belichick noted the challenge of keeping the virus out of the team facility.
“We’ll continue to do the best that we can to keep everybody as safe, distanced, masked, and protected as we can. It’s certainly an imperfect situation on multiple levels,” Belichick said. “Whatever we’re doing, I think we’re doing the best that we can. We’re doing all that we can. It’s not perfect. Will it be good enough? Will it be good? We’ll see. Every day, you kind of walk in here and if our medical people came in one day and said we have 20 people positive, I don’t think any of us would be surprised. It’s nice to hear that we have no positives or that we have no symptoms. Those are great words to hear, but I don’t think it would surprise any of us.”
The Patriots now have seven total players on the NFL’s COVID list, with these four joining running back J.J. Taylor, tackle Yasir Durant, and IR’ed tight end Dalton Keene.
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Alex Barth is a writer and digital producer for 985TheSportsHub.com. Any opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of 98.5 The Sports Hub, Beasley Media Group, or any subsidiaries. Thoughts? Comments? Questions? Looking for a podcast guest? Let him know on Twitter @RealAlexBarth or via email at [email protected].
