It’s not unusual to see teams hold out their starters from preseason games, especially the first one.
That’s why not watching Christian Gonzalez take the field on Thursday night’s 13-13 tie to the Indianapolis Colts wasn’t surprising.
Nevertheless, given his contract stalemate and the fact that he also missed some of the joint practices, the situation raised doubts.
That’s why, following the game, head coach Mike Vrabel had to clear the air about why he wasn’t there, citing an injury.
Mike Vrabel downplays Christian Gonzalez’s absence
“Christian was in a group of many players that weren’t here tonight,” Vrabel clarified.
Gonzalez and the Patriots have had unsuccessful talks about making him the highest-paid cornerback in NFL history.
He reportedly wants a deal that won’t be obsolete in a year or two, and with the lack of progress, any development might be significant.
Nevertheless, Coach Vrabel insisted that the Patriots held him out because of an undisclosed injury, urging the media not to make a big deal out of his absence:
“Christian was unavailable, physically unavailable for the practice,” Vrabel said. “That’s the clarification. Just like other players that I told to have treatment, and everybody has a plan here, there were other guys that were in that same category. If you want to list the names, Christian Elliss, Brenden Schooler, Harold Landry, Christian Barmore, et cetera. So make sure they’re all included. They were all in the same group of what they did.”
Fair enough, there’s absolutely no reason to put a starter at risk in a meaningless preseason game, and this wouldn’t be a story if it weren’t for the contract situation.
That said, it also wouldn’t be the first time a player negotiating a deal ‘gets hurt.’
For what it’s worth, Gonzalez had participated in all drills and practices before this, so perhaps he’s actually injured.
Even so, this is a story worth following closely in the next couple of weeks.
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