The New England Patriots are hoping to get their best defensive player, cornerback Christian Gonzalez, back on the field soon, but Week 3 against the Pittsburgh Steelers feels like a long-shot — for reasons beyond Gonzalez’s nagging hamstring injury.
While soft-tissue injuries differ from player to player and can definitely linger, Gonzalez officially missed over seven weeks of practice before returning in a limited capacity on Wednesday. Still, it would be a major surprise to see him suit up four days later without any sort of ramp-up period.
There’s also the elephant in the room — Gonzalez’s surging contract value. No player wants the “injury-prone” label attached to his resume, but to say New England’s defense is struggling in coverage without its top cornerback would be an understatement. Through two games, the Patriots are allowing 75.8% completions (30th in the NFL) and 338.5 net passing yards per game (32nd).
In a recent appearance on WEEI sports radio, all-time Patriots great Ty Law broke down what every fan should be thinking when it comes to Gonzalez’s puzzling injury situation.
“It’s just showing, ‘I’m hurt, they can’t replace me.’ So, he’s just adding value. And when he comes back and they improve, guess what? The Brinks truck is going to be backing up.”
The New England Patriots can’t afford to rush Christian Gonzalez back — literally
The NFL is always a numbers game, and in this specific case, it’s in the player’s best interest to take a cautious approach with a hamstring, which has a high risk of reinjury.
As a 2023 first-round draft pick, Gonzalez becomes extension-eligible after this 2025 season. New England could choose to pay their star corner early — like the New York Jets did this year with Sauce Gardiner — or utilize the fifth-year option as a placeholder.
As we see almost every NFL offseason, star players often joust with their teams over contract leverage in these situations. It’s in the player’s best interest to cash in with more guaranteed money. The team, meanwhile, wants to squeeze as much value out of a friendly rookie-scale contract as possible.
In Gonzalez’s case, this could simply be a training camp hamstring issue that was tweaked at some point during his rehab process. It's important to note, however, what head coach Mike Vrabel said this offseason about helping his players "maximize their earning potential."
Mike Vrabel says one of his most important jobs is getting his players to “maximize their earning potential:”
— Tom Carroll (@yaboiTCfresh) July 22, 2025
“We’re in this business [of] professional sports, outside of winning, to provide for our family, you know? That’s what this is. It’s professional sports.
“And so with… pic.twitter.com/seTA094jbf
To Law’s point, there could be more at play here regarding just how healthy Gonzalez is and has been over the course of the past 50-plus days. It all makes for an uncomfortable situation that bears watching until Gonzalez ultimately gets the monster extension he’s due in 2026.