Patriots cornerback Christian Gonzalez practiced for the first time since July 28 as he works his way back from a hamstring injury, per ESPN’s Mike Reiss.
Head coach Mike Vrabel said (via Ben Volin of the Boston Globe) that Gonzalez could return Patriots’ Week 3 matchup against the Steelers, according to but that would require a rapid ramp-up from an injury that has sidelined him for almost seven weeks.
Earlier in September, Vrabel hinted that the team was hoping for a quicker recovery from Gonzalez, according to Reiss, but he now appears to be trending in the right direction. After Wednesday’s practice, the former first-round pick declined (via Doug Kyed of the Boston Herald) to answer questions about his injury, including one about a potential setback in his rehab process.
Gonzalez’s return would be a major boost to a Patriots secondary that has allowed the most passing yards in the NFL through two weeks. Fellow third-year corner Alex Austin has struggled in both games, allowing a 144.4 passer rating when targeted, per Pro Football Focus (subscription required). Gonzalez’s game-changing ability to shadow and shut down opposing WR1’s would take significant pressure off of New England’s safeties, especially with a strong start from No. 2 cornerback Carlton Davis.
Gonzalez was likely limited in his return to the practice field, but his status over the next few days will be worth monitoring as the Patriots prepare to host the Steelers.
Off topic, but to the owners of this website: thank you.
I appreciate not being bombarded with gambling ads. I just went to a far more name brand site – and 80 percent of the page was gambling advice.
I even clicked on a couple of articles and they were disguised gambling ads. One even wanted me to redirect to another site for a full game evaluation.
You see, its not necessarily ads that bother me, its the that they try to disguise gambling advice as analysis.
I’ve visited that site for 25 yrs, and today it just hit me that I much prefer this method. It’s not new, but the transition has been pretty subtle over the years.
Maybe Im just a curmudgeon, but I guess thats the way everything is going now.
And by the way – if the flood of gambling experts in my podcasts, radio shows or tv were any good – they wouldn’t be writing articles. They would probably be not even allowed to gamble because they’ve been blackballed by casinos and bookies.
This player could be Juan Soto’s twin