Report: Patriots Fined $350K for When Cam Newton, Players Tested Positive

The NFL has fined the New England Patriots $350,000 for violating the league's COVID-19 protocols in October, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.

The punishment comes from when Cam Newton tested positive for the coronavirus, eventually leading to more players being placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list. The league was forced to delay its Week 4 game against the Kansas City Chiefs—which was played without Newton—while the scheduled Week 5 matchup against the Denver Broncos was moved to Week 6.

Newton later explained that his time in the facility created problems for everyone else once he tested positive, via Mark Daniels of the Providence Journal:

"I think the biggest scare here for everybody was just my, I guess, daily routine of how many hours I put in the facility. And if I contracted it, if anybody would have had a red flag, I think it would have been me. Here’s a person who’s here as long as he is. Who was he around? Who did he touch? And I was more concerned about it, because I didn’t want to put nobody else on the team in jeopardy for this."

He also said Stephon Gilmore later testing positive was his "worst nightmare."

The NFL began investigating whether the team followed protocols shortly after the first positive test, per Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk.

The league has handed out punishments to several teams for not following protocols this season, with the New Orleans Saints and Las Vegas Raiders getting harsher penalties for multiple violations. The Tennessee Titans were also fined $350,000 earlier this year after a significant outbreak that caused game postponements.