Christian Gonzalez returned to Patriots practice last week, but the cornerback’s lack of a contract extension has led some to wonder if he might be off the field again as the team heads into their Week 1 game against the Seahawks.
Head coach Mike Vrabel fielded a question about that possibility during an appearance on WEEI on Monday morning.
“I expect him to be there today and I’m gonna focus on today,” Vrabel said. “I expect every healthy player to play and practice for our football team. That’s my expectation as a head coach.”
PFT reported on Sunday that Gonzalez and the Patriots are still engaged in contract talks despite what’s believed to be a significant gap between what the two sides are proposing. Vrabel was also asked about where things stand on that front.
“I don’t have anything new to add with Christian,” Vrabel said. “Whatever the events over the weekend or whatever happened over the weekend or didn’t happen over the weekend or what’s gonna happen today moving forward, I don’t think I have anything new to update you on.”
Gonzalez’s status on and off the field will continue to be of interest until a deal comes together that secures his long-term future in New England.
Patriots Clips
The Patriots are down to 53 on their active roster, with two noteworthy players opening the season still dealing with injuries.
Safety Brenden Schooler, who is the Patriots’ special teams captain, is opening the season on the non-football injury list with an undisclosed injury that kept him out of training camp and the preseason.
And linebacker Harold Landry, who also didn’t practice at all in training camp or play in the preseason, will open the season on the physically unable to perform list.
Cut by the Patriots were S Mike Brown, S Eric Butler, G Mehki Butler, OL Jack Conley, CB Brandon Crossley, OL Darrian Dalcourt, WR Nick DeGennaro, CB Marcellas Dial Jr., TE C.J. Dippre, WR Kyle Dixon, WR Cameron Dorner, LB Amari Gainer, DT Eric Gregory, P Matt Haack, RB JaMycal Hasty, LB Xavier Holmes, OT James Hudson III, DT Isaiah Iton, RB Lan Larison, LB Jesse Luketa, S Peter Manuma, OT Lorenz Metz, OL Joe Michalski, RB Jam Miller, DB Kobee Minor, G JonDarius Morga, LB Chad Muma, WR Tejhaun Palmer, DT Jeremiah Pharms Jr., OL Jacob Rizy, DT Casey Rogers, S John Saunders Jr., LB Bradyn Swinson, CB Kindle Vildor, TE Jack Westover and LB Riley Wilson.
The Patriots are making a move for an offensive lineman ahead of the deadline to set their initial 53-man roster.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that they have agreed to a trade with the Vikings for Walter Rouse. The teams will exchange late-round draft picks as part of the deal.
Rouse was a 2024 sixth-round pick in Minnesota. He appeared in eight games over the last two seasons and did not make any starts.
Rouse was on the Vikings’ depth chart at right guard, but also has experience at tackle and will try to earn a reserve spot in New England heading into the season.
The Patriots and cornerback Christian Gonzalez may indeed be far apart on a new deal, but that doesn’t mean they’re not trying to bridge the gap.
Per a source with knowledge of the situation, the two sides are talking — 10 days from the regular-season opener at Seattle.
Amid speculation in some circles that Gonzalez wants a three-year extension (making it a five-year deal) while the Patriots are dug in at four new years and six total, we’re told that’s not a sticking point. If/when a new contract is done, it will be a four-year extension.
The sticking points have more to do with structure and total dollars. He’s surely looking to beat the new record high of $33 million in new-money APY, set 15 days ago by Seahawks cornerback Devon Witherspoon.
And, to the extent Gonzalez’s recent absence from practice was motivated by the lack of a deal, there’s always a chance he’ll be injured (or “injured”) again as Week 1 approaches.
The Patriots went through a similar situation six years ago, when reigning defensive player of the year Stephon Gilmore made it clear shortly before the regular-season opener that he wouldn’t play without a new deal. He eventually got a $5 million bump on his pay for the 2020 season just days before the first game.
The growing trend of NFL teams keeping their quarterbacks out of the preseason has reached the point where more than one-third of starting quarterbacks did not take a single snap in this year’s preseason.
The reasons were different for different teams: Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and Colts quarterback Daniel Jones are recovering from season-ending injuries. Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott and Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson haven’t played in the preseason in years, across multiple coaching staffs. Rams coach Sean McVay is perhaps the most cautious coach in the league when it comes to avoiding preseason injuries, so of course reigning MVP quarterback Matthew Stafford didn’t play.
But the result is the same: If you’re tuning into a preseason game, you’re increasingly likely to see backup quarterbacks exclusively, and if you see a starter at all, it will typically only be for a series or two.
Here’s the full list of teams that didn’t play their starting quarterbacks at all this preseason, via Mike Reiss of ESPN:
Seahawks: Sam Darnold.
Patriots: Drake Maye.
Cowboys: Dak Prescott.
Ravens: Lamar Jackson.
Steelers: Aaron Rodgers.
Colts: Daniel Jones.
Jaguars: Trevor Lawrence.
Chiefs: Patrick Mahomes.
Eagles: Jalen Hurts.
Lions: Jared Goff.
Saints: Tyler Shough.
Rams: Matthew Stafford.
UNC G.M. Michael Lombardi remains on paid administrative leave while the school investigates him. Recently, his lawyer has complained about the duration of the probe.
On Saturday, Tom Mars attacked the investigation in comments to David Ubben of The Athletic.
“If UNC had grounds to fire Michael for cause, they wouldn’t need to conduct such a far-ranging, lengthy witch hunt,” Mars told Ubben. “They would have done so by now. I think the motive behind the investigation goes further than a $1.5 million buyout. After all, UNC could fire Michael (or the athletic director or any head coach) for no reason at all just by paying their buyout. In today’s world, $1.5 million is just a drop in the bucket, so there must be other reasons behind this multimillion-dollar investigation.”
Previously, Mars provided similar comments to David Hale of ESPN, calling the investigation a “snipe hunt.”
Lombardi and Mars are entitled to their opinions on the matter. But if the situation surfaced, as it has been reported, from a complaint made by a former employee to the school, North Carolina has an obligation to conduct a full and thorough investigation. Through it all, Lombardi is still getting paid.
Mars almost seems to be daring UNC to fire Lombardi for cause. If that happens, Lombardi’s $1.5 million salary will be cut off. While he could have grounds to challenge the decision, he wouldn’t be getting paid while the case proceeds.
Generally speaking, it’s always better to be getting paid than to not be getting paid. If Lombardi and Mars want the investigation to be wrapped up quickly, Lombardi may not like the short-term impact a final decision has on his paycheck.
The Patriots traded for running back Corey Kiner on Saturday and they made space for him by parting ways with another back.
They announced that they have released Hassan Haskins when they confirmed their trade with Arizona for Kiner.
Haskins signed with the Patriots earlier this month and saw action in all three of the team’s preseason games. Haskins spent the last two seasons with the Chargers and entered the league as a Titans fourth-round pick in 2022.
Kiner joins a running back room that also has TreVeyon Henderson, Rhamondre Stevenson, Lan Larison, JaMycal Hasty, and seventh-round pick Jam Miller in it at the moment.
Bill Belichick’s second season as a college football head coach is off to a better start than his first season.
Belichick’s North Carolina team beat TCU 15-10 today, giving Belichick a 1-0 start to Year Two.
Last year, in Belichick’s debut as a college coach, North Carolina’s season started with a 48-14 loss to TCU and never got much better, finishing with a 4-8 record.
Belichick, who didn’t generate any interest from NFL teams after being fired by the Patriots following the 2023 season, is attempting to build North Carolina into a winning program. He’s still a long way from doing that, and questions remain about whether he has what it takes as a recruiter and developer of young talent to build a sustainable college program — not to mention whether the 74-year-old will be around long enough to turn North Carolina into a lasting winner.
But after a win today, Belichick’s second season is off to a promising start.
The Patriots have added some depth at running back through a trade with the Cardinals.
Corey Kiner is being traded from Arizona to New England, with the Patriots sending the Cardinals a 2028 seventh-round pick in the deal, according to Adam Schefter.
The Cardinals were planning to waive Kiner, and the Patriots, who are 31st in the waiver order, thought some other team would claim him ahead of them in the waiver order. So the Patriots used a late-round pick a year and a half from now to make sure they could land Kiner.
Kiner played four games for the Cardinals as an undrafted rookie last year and looked solid, carrying the ball 12 times for 58 yards, adding two catches for 15 yards, and returning one kickoff for 22 yards. The Cardinals, who added first-round pick Jeremiyah Love and free agent Tyler Allgeier to their running back room this offseason, decided they no longer had a place on their roster for Kiner. Now his place is in New England.
Two NFL seasons have transpired without should-be Hall of Fame head coach Bill Belichick, who had spent half of a century in pro football.
Today at noon ET, he embarks on his second season at the college level, with North Carolina.
Like last year, the season commenced with a game against TCU. (It started well, before imploding.) Unlike last year, the game will be played not in Chapel Hill but in Dublin, Ireland.
UNC won’t have defensive coordinator Steve Belichick, who remains on medical leave. And the Tar Heels haven’t had the services of G.M. Michael Lombardi, who was placed on paid administrative leave last month while the school conducts an internal investigation of him.
The bigger question is the quality of the roster that Belichick and Lombardi have compiled for the coming season. They opted to go heavy on high-school recruits for 2026, with less of an emphasis on the transfer portal.
The performance of these young players will ultimately influence Belichick’s fate. Only the first three years of his five-year, $50 million contract are guaranteed; if he’s fired after 2026, the school would owe him one season of pay.
Last year, Belichick went 4-8 with a team that simply wasn’t good enough — regardless of his legendary ability to devise and implement game plans tailored to outscoring any given opponent. If the players aren’t good enough this year, it’s hard to imagine Belichick returning for a third season.
Which likely would bring his coaching career to an end. Unless one of the NFL’s franchises decides to roll the dice on him.
With Belichick getting only one interview in three NFL hiring cycles (and not a sniff in January, when 10 jobs were open), it’s hard to imagine Belichick finding a landing spot in the pro game. Especially if he’ll be looking for a place where the deck would be pre-stacked in his favor.
But it’s not impossible. Crazier things have happened. Like, for instance, the Hall of Fame voters inexplicably denying him a bronze bust in his first year of eligibility.
