New England Patriots
“I would imagine that he would be here next week. If he is, then we’ll coach him, be ready to move on,” Vrabel said.
Christian Gonzalez AP Photo/Brynn Anderson
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Christian Gonzalez was absent from Tuesday’s voluntary OTA session at Gillette Stadium. He has not been present at either of the sessions that the media has been allowed to see so far.
The Patriots are set to begin mandatory minicamp on June 15th, a little less than two weeks from now.
Coach Mike Vrabel was asked about the team’s efforts to resolve any issues that may be keeping Gonzalez away.
The Patriots picked up Gonzalez’s fifth-year option, which will bump his base salary from $2.2 million in 2026 to $18.1 million in 2027.
With a Pro Bowl season under his belt, a contract set to expire in 2027, and another year of relatively short money scheduled before a big pay increase, Gonzalez’s absence during workouts that featured many of the Patriots’ key pieces has raised eyebrows.
“I think the contract is the business and the professional side of this,” Vrabel said. “The personal side, I don’t want to let anything interfere with that. I want Christian to be ready when he comes back. I would imagine that he would be here next week. If he is, then we’ll coach him, be ready to move on, and get him ready to help us and help himself.”
“Contracts are part of professional sports, I understand that. But I also know that those should remain private. Like any contract negotiation, you want to make sure that everybody feels like they get something out of it, and I’ll leave it at that.”
When asked about the situation last week, Vrabel said that Gonzalez’s absence was a personal choice.
“Those are personal choices for players,” Vrabel said. “I would say that I value the communication that I’ve had personally. I know that our defensive coaches have had conversations with Christian. Again, I wish that they were all here so that we can coach them.”
“But the ones that are here, that’s where our focus will be, and we’ll pour everything that we have into those players. I know that his professionalism and being ready to go, or whatever personal choice some guys have during the spring, I’m confident that they’ll all be ready.”
Vrabel and Gonzalez both made appearances at Drake Maye’s celebrity softball game over the weekend.
“Just having fun, and it was great to see Gonzo and everybody else that came to support Drake and Ann Michael,” said Vrabel.
Khari A. Thompson
Khari Thompson covers professional sports for Boston.com. Before joining the team in 2022, Khari covered college football for The Clarion Ledger in Jackson, Miss.
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