FOXBORO, Mass. -- With COVID-19 cases on the rise across the NFL, Matthew Judon wants his New England Patriots teammates to keep three goals in mind.
The veteran outside linebacker laid those out Wednesday while speaking with reporters at Gillette Stadium.
"Protect yourself, mainly," Judon said from behind a mask. "Then protect your family second, and then try to protect our family as the Patriots third. As a person, you don't want COVID because nobody wants it, and then you don't want to take it home to your family and you don't want to bring it into the building."
The Patriots' roster has not been decimated by COVID positives the way several other teams' have, but the Omicron variant has caused issues inside Gillette Stadium. On Monday, New England placed four players on the reserve/COVID-19 list, including Kendrick Bourne, one of its top receivers.
Players in Foxboro also have had to operate amid heightened COVID restrictions, as the NFL recently reimplemented most of its 2020 protocols -- mandated mask-wearing, no indoor meetings, etc. -- in reaction to this latest spike. The league also altered its return-to-play guidelines to allow the dozens of vaccinated, asymptomatic players who are testing positive to return more quickly.
This atmosphere, coupled with the constant threat of more positive tests, takes a mental toll on players, Judon said.
"It's hard," he said. "You can have it, you can be asymptomatic, you can have symptoms. It's hard. You kind of don't know when you get it. You get the test, and you might have had it for three days. You don't know who you were around. That's why we've got the (proximity) trackers.
"It's very tough. It's very tough. I think the league is doing a good job. Everybody in the locker room is doing a good job, just trying to mask up and protect ourselves as much as we can with this being a contact sport and us having to be in a huddle tight. But when we don't have to do that and we're watching film, we can kind of spread out and space out.
"But it's tough. It's probably one of the toughest things the league or players have had to deal with in a very long time."
Head coach Bill Belichick addressed this COVID-related uncertainty earlier this week.
"Whatever we're doing, I think we're doing the best that we can," Belichick said Monday. "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."
Judon likely will be the final Patriots player to hold an in-person mid-week news conference this season. From this point forward, players and coaches only will speak with reporters over video calls, except for on game days.
The 9-5 Patriots are preparing to host the 8-6 Buffalo Bills on Sunday.
