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’S A WAITING GAME
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 participate,” Vrabel said, adding, "I’m excited about having Christian back here with us and the impact he can make on our football team. Really enjoy the person, enjoy the player, and that’s what I’m looking forward to.”
Gonzalez is eligible for a massive contract extension, and while talks are ongoing, there has been very little intel shared or breadcrumbs being dropped. As the player shares the same agency as Seahawks’ cornerback Devon Witherspoon, the prevailing reports have suggested Witherspoon will sign first and then Gonzalez will eventually follow. Are the Patriots in a holding pattern because of that?
“I don’t think they have anything to do with one another,” Vrabel said. “We’re not negotiating with the Seahawks. We’re negotiating with Christian’s representatives, and I don’t think that there’s anything different than just our communication with them.”
Witherspoon recently turned down a three-year extension worth over $30 million per season. Even with no idea of how the contract was presented (guaranteed money is what truly matters), his refusal makes sense. The recently-traded (to the Rams) and re-upped Trent McDuffie will make $31 mil per season but, more important, $110 million guaranteed over the life of that deal. That, to me, is the number the Pats will have to match or surpass to lock up Gonzalez for future years and avoid this lingering into the season.
Marcus Jones, who worked out his own extension in-season during the 225-26 campaign, didn’t want to get involved in the contractual situation of a teammate, but left no doubt of how much Gonzalez means to that unit.
“I feel like when it comes down to it, when you have a guy that's in that 1% of being able to lock down their number one receiver, it's very important,” he said. “I feel like everyone on our team has certain identities when it comes down to it, and when it comes down to his job, he does it very well.”
Gonzalez is scheduled to earn $2.259 million for the upcoming season.
WAIT, WHAT?
As Vrabel was speaking this morning, he casually mentioned that a future Hall of Famer was in the building.
"DeAndre Hopkins is here with us … just to kind of check things out as far as what he wants to do, as far as coaching. You'll see him on the field," Vrabel said.
You should have seen the number of heads that pulled their eyes off their phones and keyboards in that moment. Vrabel clarified, quickly, that this wasn’t about playing for New England, even if Hopkins insisted earlier this offseason that he still has “a lot of ball left” and would love to play for a contender.
Instead, this was painted as Vrabel, who has a long history with Hopkins, helping open some doors for the wideout.
"He has got coaching gear on, and he is helping out the offensive coaches and meeting with our personnel guys," Vrabel added. "He loves football. People that love football and have played the game for the length of time that he did [want] to, I think, explore the opportunities and what that looks like after his playing career is over."
The easy thing would be to take Vrabel at his word, but my antennae are up. Could Hopkins be a depth piece in case of an injury or trade (Kayshon Boutte), and this be a way to get him up to speed on the Josh McDaniels offense in the meantime? Stay tuned.
ODDS AND ENDS
- Brenden Schooler has been placed on NFI, joining RB Terrell Jennings on that list. Harold Landry and C.J. Dippre are on active PUP and can be reinstated to the regular roster at any time this summer.
- Note to Patriots PR: if you want to disarm the press, make sure Vrabel shows up to his press conference with a puppy. I haven’t heard that many “Awwwwws” since the last time they did this a year ago. It feels like a tried-and-true method. The team is having their second-annual 'Pawtriots' event tomorrow where you can adopt a “furever” friend and support local shelters and rescue dogs in need. I have one (not through this event), and while he clearly got treated horribly by whoever had him before us and can be a pain in the you know what, we love Dougie and only occasionally reject the decision (I kid, I kid).