FOXBORO — Christian Gonzalez likely won’t return to Patriots training camp until next week at the earliest.
Speaking before Wednesday’s practice, head coach Mike Vrabel said he had “no updates” on the star cornerback but expected him to remain sidelined for the rest of the week.
“I mean, I wouldn’t expect him here this week,” Vrabel said. “And just like everybody else, I know he’s working extremely hard to get back and focus on what he can do as opposed to what he can’t. But I wouldn’t expect to see him this week.”
Gonzalez suffered an apparent leg injury Monday while covering wide receiver Stefon Diggs during the Patriots’ first fully padded practice of training camp. The second-team All-Pro did not participate in the Patriots’ next two practices, though he did make a brief appearance near the end of Tuesday’s session, wearing workout clothes and a sleeve over his left leg.
The Patriots’ other projected starting cornerback, Carlton Davis, has yet to fully participate in a practice since camp began. The nature and severity of Davis’ injury were unclear as of Wednesday. Before one practice last week, Vrabel said the offseason signing would be sidelined for a “maintenance day.”
Davis could be seen riding a stationary bike with a helmet and jersey on during one stretch of Wednesday’s practice. Vrabel said in his pre-practice news conference that the team plans to manage the workloads of multiple veteran players this summer.
“There’s a plan,” the head coach said. “I mean, I think it’s just making sure that he’s ready to go. It’s a long season, veteran player. There’ll be guys that have different plans, like I said, whether that be Morgan (Moses) or maybe Harold (Landry) today. Really just trying to put this thing all together and make sure that everybody that needs to get to work for evaluation purposes, a lot of different reasons. Sometimes it is health-related, but also, I feel like Harold won’t be out there or Morgan may come out for individual or some players may come out for team. Try to just give everybody what they need for the season.”
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