The Patriots kicked off the final phase of their offseason program Tuesday with the first of three mandatory minicamp practices.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Generally speaking, mandatory minicamp is not much different from OTAs. There are no pads, no live contact, and, for the most part, practices are conducted at a lower tempo with an emphasis on teaching and installation.<\/p>\n
The one major difference is that minicamp is mandatory. While the previous portions of the team\u2019s offseason program were voluntary, players must attend minicamp or face fines.<\/p>\n
Two key players who were absent during OTAs, Christian Gonzalez and Kayshon Boutte, returned to the practice field on Tuesday, though one did not do much practicing.<\/p>\n
Gonzalez, who is eligible for a contract extension for the first time this offseason, participated in stretches, individual drills, and walkthroughs. During team periods, however, he watched from the back of the end zone with his helmet off.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve got obligations. I\u2019m here,\u201d Gonzalez said after the session.<\/p>\n
The 23-year-old is slated to earn a base salary of roughly $2.26 million this season. When asked whether he would play on his current contract, the 2025 Pro Bowler said he is focused on the present rather than the future.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got a long time to the season. We\u2019re still pretty early in the offseason,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m focused on being here for the team, doing my role and what I\u2019m here for this week, and focusing on that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 17th overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft made it clear, though, that he would like to remain a Patriot.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope we get something done,\u201d Gonzalez said. \u201cI\u2019ve said this multiple times, I\u2019ve been drafted here; I want to be rewarded as a Patriot. I love this city. So, of course, I want to be here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Boutte, who also missed voluntary workouts amid uncertainty about his future following the trade for A.J. Brown and the signing of Romeo Doubs, was much more active. With his name surfacing in trade rumors as the 24-year-old enters the final year of his rookie contract, the receiver was a full participant throughout practice.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wouldn\u2019t mind being here. I do want to be here, obviously,\u201d Boutte said. \u201cI mean, at the end of the day, I do want to be here. So whether that\u2019s X, Z, F, like just whatever I got to do, that\u2019s best for me. Whether it\u2019s learning the playbook more, moving around \u2014 There\u2019s only one football. There are five of us, you know? But that\u2019s football.\u201d<\/p>\n
Boutte, who led the team with 168 receiving yards last postseason, caught 33 passes for 551 yards and six touchdowns during the regular season. He is not concerned about the team\u2019s new additions or the increasingly crowded receiver room.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been getting crowded every year,\u201d he said. \u201cWe find ourselves in the same position at the beginning of every season, every offseason. But I mean, at the end of the day, you\u2019ve still got to come to training camp and fight. No spot is given, no matter who it is. You\u2019ve still got to come out and perform.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aside from Harold Landry, who is recovering from offseason knee surgery, and Morgan Moses, who was present at OTAs before leaving last week\u2019s session early, second-round pick Gabe Jacas was the only other player absent.<\/p>\n
Head coach Mike Vrabel noted that Jacas, the team\u2019s only unsigned draft pick, recently underwent a medical procedure.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe just had to have a procedure, and he is not under contract,\u201d Vrabel said, \u201cSo, we are excited about Gabe, the person that he is, the play style, his production in college, and all that. So, when that gets resolved, we will have him in here, and we will coach him, and I am sure we will find a way for him to help our football team.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Patriots are scheduled to hold two more minicamp practices on Wednesday and Thursday before breaking for six weeks ahead of training camp.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Patriots kicked off the final phase of their offseason program Tuesday with the first of three mandatory…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":914789,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2050],"tags":[6032,7,6306,1167,249,2326,2094,6,208],"class_list":["post-914868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-england-patriots","tag-christian-gonzalez","tag-football","tag-kayshon-boutte","tag-new-england","tag-new-england-patriots","tag-newengland","tag-newenglandpatriots","tag-nfl","tag-patriots"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116724184092562697","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/914868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=914868"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/914868\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/914789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=914868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=914868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=914868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}