During his press conference ahead of Mandatory Minicamp, Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel discussed a variety of topics, including Christian Gonzalez’s ongoing contract negotiations.
Gonzalez, who remains in the middle of negotiations for a potential contract extension, was on hand on Tuesday in Foxboro with the team for this week’s mandatory practices.
While confirming he’s had “great” general conversations with Gonzalez, discussing “normal things,” Vrabel quickly distanced himself from the specifics of any ongoing negotiations.
“Good. Conversations have been great,” said Vrabel when talking about the conversations he’s had during Gonzalez’s contract process. “Talked to him about his event last week, talked to him about normal things that we talk about.”
“But it’s good to have everybody back in here that either was here last week or that wasn’t. It’s just good to have almost a complete football team here and excited to keep working.”
When asked if Vrabel has had any involvement with the negotiations, Vrabel quickly shot that notion down. Based on his response, it sounds like not much progress has been made on a new deal based on his response.
“I don’t— I’m not involved with the negotiations,” said Vrabel. “I’m involved with coaching this team.”
“Nothing to add,” He continued. “I mean, he’s still under his – I don’t think there’s anything to report. I’ll say that.”
One thing that was interesting was the fact that after sitting out the offseason program, Vrabel said he expects Kayshon Boutte to be limited this week now that the former LSU standout is finally at the facility.
“I don’t know if he’ll participate fully just because I don’t think that’s fair to him to just say, ‘Hey, go run 20 reps,’” said Vrabel. “Again, I think that part of this is about evaluating where guys are, getting them reacclimated to what the new stuff is that we’re putting in the red zone. And then based on how he does and looks, I think that that could certainly change.”
“But, again, we want to be smart with everybody that we have. And for the guys that we haven’t seen, I think it’s only right to make sure that they’re where everybody else is based on how we practice.”
When asked if he expects Gonzalez to be limited for the same reason, he said that will likely also be the case with his veteran cornerback.
“Yeah, I would say just like everybody else, everybody has a plan,” said Vrabel. “And I’ve got to make sure that everybody’s working and getting what they need to get.”
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Ian Logue is a Seacoast native and owner and senior writer for PatsFans.com, an independent media site covering the New England Patriots and has been running this site in one form or another since 1997.
