FOXBOROUGH – There is one unsigned 2026 second-rounder remaining in all of football: Gabe Jacas. Rookies and select players reported earlier this week, and the rest of the gang was due in today. All were present and accounted for, except for the player the Patriots used three draft picks to trade up for.
“Hopefully, we’ll get him in here sooner rather than later,” Mike Vrabel said. “I’m not going to put a timeline on it or a time frame. I’ve spoken to Gabe personally, and am excited to get him in when he’s under contract.”
Vrabel characterized the ongoing negotiations as “positive.” Jacas’ agent has not responded to an email inquiry for their side of the story. In the meantime, his client has lost valuable learning time, even if an offseason surgery (Vrabel finally used the word) might have kept him out of spring ball.
As for whether or not he’ll be ready to participate once he does sign, it’s hard to know based on Jacas’ absence in May and June.
“I mean, I can only go by what he says, and so when he gets here, we’ll evaluate that,” Vrabel said. “Of course, be as smart as we can and … to just see because we haven’t seen him with us. But I would say that – use the word cautiously optimistic.”
This shouldn’t be overly complicated. Over the last year plus, second-rounders have pushed to have all their money guaranteed, but this delay may have more to do with some injury language in the contract than anything else.
“Every contract is unique,” added Vrabel. “Every contract is different, and it’ll get resolved. I’m positive that it will.”
That was never the worry. The worry is how much this impacts Jacas’ ability to contribute this season at a position that needs immediate help.
It should be of no surprise to anyone that Christian Gonzalez showed up for reporting day (yet somehow my social media accounts were flooded by this news…). Why get fined? The real question is what the cornerback will do when the Patriots ramp up the physicality in training camp (I believe the first day in full pads will be Thursday). From the sound of it, the head coach expects his star corner will do more than he did during OTAs, which was very little.
“He is here. I expect him to
