FOXBOROUGH - On the surface, there’s no news about Christian Gonzalez and that contract extension. One side - the Patriots - has proclaimed positive momentum. The other? Not so much. In fact, in a brief conversation with Gonzalez, he said he wasn’t sure a new deal would get done before Wednesday’s opener in Seattle but otherwise had no updates or any interest in talking.
His head coach, Mike Vrabel, brushed aside repeated questions about his star cornerback’s contract and availability, well, save for one (and we’ll get to that).
"No, again, no comments, or nothing new to report with Christian," Vrabel said Thursday afternoon. "Nothing new to report contractually. Trying to get him ready for the football game. Trying to get him ready on the first- and second-down stuff that we're doing [at practice] today, and how he can help us win."
In his last press conference, now over a week ago, Gonzalez wouldn’t commit to playing in the opener without a new contract. Considering how the Patriots played Jaxon Smith-Njigba in the Super Bowl - Gonzalez lined up head-to-head with the Seahawks star receiver on 14 dropbacks and allowed one reception - the game plan would have to be modified, at the very least, were Gonzalez to sit out.
"You know, we have to prepare for everything that could potentially happen, whether that's players' availability through multiple different reasons," Vrabel said. "So, we'll have to be ready for a lot of things as we work here into Week 1 and the craziness of the National Football League and the journey that we're about to go on."
But does he expect Gonzalez to play?
"As I said a couple of days ago, as the head coach, I expect every player that's healthy and under contract to practice and to play," Vrabel said. "That may change based on my conversations with different players and the plan that they have each and every day when you talk about practice or what the plan may be for the football game. So that goes with this situation and anybody else that would fall underneath that. That is what our expectation is."
Teammates have supported Gonzalez both publicly and privately (based on my discussions). That doesn’t appear to be changing.
“Obviously, I want him out there,” Kevin Byard said. “I think we all do. We all want him to