New England Patriots - NESN.com
The New England Patriots’ frustrations are mounting with star cornerback Christian Gonzalez.
Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer seems to think so, anyway.
“I’ve dug around on this for the last couple of weeks, and from what I’ve found, there wasn’t a setback — which almost makes it worse,” Breer said while appearing on NBC Sports Boston on Tuesday. “I know their full expectation when he got hurt in July was that he’d be ready by Week 1.
“… If he misses this game, that makes it four weeks, which means he’s not just behind where they thought he’d be in July, but he’s behind where they thought he’d be at the beginning of September. I don’t think there’s any ill-will, but I do think that there’s frustration.”
Breer also noted that there’s some potential uneasiness relating to the third-year cornerback’s contract status, as he might be overly cautious returning from the injury as not to ruin his chances at signing an extension this offseason.
The Patriots, of course, would sign him to an extension right now if they were eligible, but must wait until the conclusion of his third season.
Yes, there’s a real chance this might all be true, but we’ve heard many times before that timeline’s for hamstring injuries are notoriously tricky.
Gonzalez has been on the practice fields for two weeks, and is expected to ramp up activity on Wednesday. The Patriots would then decide whether they feel comfortable enough with his injury to push it during their Week 4 matchup with the Carolina Panthers.
If so, all is well and good.
If not, we might want to circle back on those “frustration” comments and see if they worsen — because they probably should.
