Mike Vrabel wants to be involved in resolving Christian Gonzalez situation
· Yahoo Sports
In three days, the Patriots face the Seahawks in a rematch of Super Bowl LX. It remains to be seen whether cornerback Christian Gonzalez will have a new contract and, if not, whether he'll play.
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Gonzalez hasn’t committed to playing without his new deal, which means there's a non-zero-percent chance he won't.
On Saturday, coach Mike Vrabel was asked whether he will share his "two cents" or "go to bat" for Gonzalez.
"I think it's an interesting dynamic," Vrabel told reporters. "I’ve been on both sides. I think what's important for me is to try to communicate, try to explain [to] the players that we really want to build around and have. I’ve done that with Gonzo, and everybody knows that. So, I don’t get involved in the negotiations per se, but I certainly want to be involved in trying to get the situation resolved. That's really what I try to do throughout my job, my day here, is what the issues are, what's in front of us and what we have to do to help the team. It's a delicate balance. . . . I want to be able to just continue to prepare for Seattle and focus on all the things that we’re going to have to do to beat an excellent football team with our team and the players that we have and how we get off to a really good start here."
Gonzalez has called the situation frustrating. Vrabel was asked whether he shares that feeling.
"I wouldn’t use the word frustrating," Vrabel said. "Again, I appreciate how our players feel and their emotions, and I think that's part of life. But I can’t let that be frustrating. I want to be able to coach him, help him improve as a player and a person, help our football team and help our coaches."
Vrabel otherwise provided no firm update on where the situation stands.
"I think whenever the deal is done, that's when it’ll be resolved," Vrabel said. "I don’t know. I don’t have a timetable. I’ve tried to do a good job of communicating with everybody involved the best that I can."
Does he have confidence a deal will get done?
"I would say when it gets done, that's really what the confidence level is," Vrabel said. "There's no, ‘Is it almost done? Is it not almost done?’ I don’t want to deal with hypotheticals or speculation. It's important to focus on Seattle. And again, I do appreciate and understand what you guys feel like is important. I just know what's important for us is how we prepare. This is a good football team. This is an excellent football team. I told our team if we don’t play better than we played the last time we played them, we’re going to struggle."
They'll struggle more without Gonzalez to assist in covering players like Jaxon Smith-Njiba and Rashid Shaheed. And Vrabel's plan for the game will need to take into account the possibility that he won't have Gonzalez.
The Patriots went through this before, in 2020. Not long before Week 1, cornerback Stephon Gilmore made it clear that he wouldn't be playing without an adjustment to his contract. In that case, it was fairly simple; the Patriots moved $5 million in 2021 compensation to 2020. This time, it will require a commitment that exceeds the deal done by Seahawks cornerback Devon Witherspoon at $33 million per year in new money, 22 days ago.
Whatever the snags (we're told it's a combination of dollars and structure, which doesn't narrow it down by much), there's an obvious sticking point that has yet to become unstuck. And it sets the stage for Gonzalez declining to play without an agreement — which could, depending on how the team reacts to a player who is under contract and with the team refusing to work, make things very interesting.
It's essentially a one-man wildcat strike. And the team would have rights under the Collective Bargaining Agreement. Exercising those rights, however, wouldn't do much to enhance the long-term relationship between the team and one of its most important players.