The New England Patriots are slowly but steadily getting ready for their 2025 training camp. But while it is right around the corner, we still remain in the slow period for the time being.
Accordingly, this week’s Sunday Patriots Notes are once again a bit on the shorter side. That doesn’t mean there is nothing to talk about from the week that was, so please strap in and enjoy.
Better team health a key to success in 2025
Depending on the source and methodology used, you can find the Patriots listed either among the most injured and least injured teams
in the NFL in 2024. Frankly, there is some truth to both.
The Patriots, for example, were not in the same league as the Detroit Lions when it comes to volume of players on injured reserve or combined games missed. Whereas the NFC champions ended the year with 16 players on IR (plus one on the NFI list) as well as a combined 254 games missed due to injury, New England stood at 11 on IR (plus one on NFI) as well as 161 games missed
Where the Patriots were hit disproportionally hard was the quality of players bitten by the injury bug. Center David Andrews and linebacker Ja’Whaun Bentley were among the headline names, missing a majority of the season due to their respective shoulder and pectoral injuries. While theirs were long-term ailments (that ultimately contributed to both getting released this offseason), they were not the only core players banged up.
Multiple starters or would-be starters missed parts of the season with injury, including Christian Barmore, Kendrick Bourne, Kyle Dugger, Hunter Henry, Christian Gonzalez, Marcus Jones, Vederian Lowe, Jabrill Peppers, Sidy Sow, Cole Strange and Deatrich Wise Jr. Even quarterback Drake Maye missed snaps in two games because of concussion concerns.
The main problem with all those injuries, apart from the personal impact they can have on players’ careers, was the fact that the Patriots were not equipped to handle them in 2024. Top to bottom, they were one of the least talented teams in football last season, and injuries to starter-caliber players proved devastating.
Heading into 2025, better team health will therefore be a seemingly obvious but oftentimes underdiscussed key to New England’s success. The Patriots, however, are not leaving their fate in this area up to chance.
For starters, they made an effort to address their depth across the board in both free agency and the draft. And while that process still left some areas thinner than others, the roster as a whole appears to be better suited to absorb injury hits — both from and on- and an off-field perspective.
In addition, the Patriots restructured their strength and conditioning staff. While Deron Mayo and Brian McDonough are holdovers from 2024, the team also added Frank Piraino to oversee the operation in his role as director of sports performance.
There always is an element of luck involved when it comes to injuries over the course of a 17-game season plus five weeks of training camp and three preseason games. That said, New England has made a concerted effort to reduce the vulnerabilities that existed last season.
TreVeyon Henderson contract situation in the spotlight again
On Saturday, the Los Angeles Chargers’ rookies became the first group of players across the NFL to report to their team’s training camp this year. One player was not present, though: second-round draft choice Tre Harris — a wide receiver out of Ole Miss selected 55th overall — opted to stay away.
Harris is one of 30 second-round draft picks who have yet to sign their rookie contracts with their respective clubs. With no deal in place, he is officially holding out.
Also among those 30 players is the Patriots’ second-rounder, running back TreVeyon Henderson. The 38th overall selection, he too has yet to sign his deal with the team, which means that a holdout also is a theoretical possibility at this point in time.
What could help the Patriots and Henderson, however, is his reporting date relative to other players selected in his vicinity: as pointed out by salary cap expert Miguel Benzan, the three players coming off the board right before him — Seattle’s Nick Emmanwori, Cleveland’s Quinshon Judkins, Miami’s Jonah Savaiinaea — are all set to report to their teams’ training camps before Henderson.
If one of those three sign their deals beforehand — with Emmanwori and Savaiinaea more likely that Judkins given the latter’s recent arrest on domestic violence charges — they might provide a blueprint and thus a quick solution to the Patriots’ holdup with Henderson. What is causing that holdup? The structure of guarantees and how much of the 2027 and 2028 base salaries will fall into that category.
Layden Robinson excited for the Patriots’ turnaround
Even though he went from fourth-round draft choice to 11-game starter, Layden Robinson had little reason to celebrate given his team’s lack of success in 2024. The second-year guard, however, is optimistic that a brighter future is ahead for the Patriots with new head coach Mike Vrabel on board.
“It’s so fun, the energy that he brings to the team and how he holds everybody accountable,” Robinson recently told KPRC 2 Houston’s Aaron Wilson at a youth football camp in Texas.
“He wants to turn everything around. He wants our team to be great. Having a coach like that with the energy that he has, and what he wants to pour into the team, he’s leading by example too. So, I’d say that’s been the best part, just being there and seeing that. And I can’t wait to see it all turn around for good.”
How actively Robinson will be involved in that turnaround remains to be seen. Judged by the five open practices this offseason, after all, it appears he has lost his starting job at left guard to former first-round draft pick Cole Strange.
At least publicly, Robinson is putting his trust in the coaching staff and front office to make the right calls for the team.
“I feel like we’re getting the pieces that we need,” he said. “Whatever they feel is a need for us, we just have to adjust and keep going forward. We all know it’s a building block and that we just have to take our time to get to where we want to go. But we just put all of our trust in our front office and all of our trust in our coaches, and they put their trust in us to lead us where we want to go.”
Top 100 selection a sign of things to come?
After a one-year absence from the NFL Top 100 Players list, the Patriots have returned: cornerback Christian Gonzalez was voted the 84th best player in the league entering the 2025 season.
His inclusion is just the latest honor coming Gonzalez’s way after he already was voted second-team All-Pro and named a finalist for the NFL Comeback Player of the Year Award. It also shows that the third-year CB is starting to grow into one of the NFL’s big names at the cornerback position — a fact that might also have an impact on his contractual future.
Gonzalez, after all, is entering the pivotal third season of his rookie deal. Afterwards, the Patriots will have to decide whether or not to pick up his fifth-year contract option for the 2027 season. That decision seems like a no-brainer based on his play since entering the league as a first-round choice in the 2023 draft.
What is less clear, though, is how much it would cost the Patriots to lock Gonzalez up for an extra season. The recent NFL-NFLPA Collective Bargaining Agreement, after all, decided to divide the fifth-year option into four categories:
- Tier 1: No Pro Bowl nomination, no playing time thresholds met
- Tier 2: No Pro Bowl nomination, playing time thresholds met
- Tier 3: One Pro Bowl nomination
- Tier 4: Multiple Pro Bowl nominations
Gonzalez’s apparent surge in popularity as well as his immense ability might just lead to him becoming a Pro Bowler in 2025. If so, he would enter Tier 3 meaning that the price tag of his fifth-year option would naturally go up.
By how much remains to be seen — the details will depend on the salary cap, which in turn is calculated based on the league’s revenue — but Gonzalez’s fifth-year option and its associated cost in general will be one of this season’s under-the-radar storylines.
The Mayes are doing good
Patriots starting quarterback Drake Maye used the summer break to marry his longtime girlfriend, Ann Michael Hudson. The festivities, which took place on June 21 in North Carolina, also led to a significant charitable contribution from the newlyweds. According to Patriots quarterback-turned-media personality Scott Zolak, they donated the entirety of their wedding gifts to local shelters.
“They did a lot of donating with the local kids’ shelters and stuff for the area he grew up, and some kids didn’t have [the right] size shoes, didn’t have some Christmas stuff,” Zolak said. “They didn’t tell anybody, but they took their wedding gifts and sent them to the homeless and help centers down there. Everything that they got, they forwarded it.”
Setting up the week ahead
Even though the Patriots and most of the rest of the NFL are still in their summer break, this week will bring some change for the team’s rookie class. On Saturday, July 19, the team’s drafted and undrafted first-year players will report to Gillette Stadium for training camp. They will undergo physical evaluation and later on get a slow buildup toward the main event.
Also checking in this week, albeit at an undisclosed date, will be the quarterbacks and rehabbing players. The rest of the team’s veterans will come in on July 22, with the first practice of the summer set for the day after. Camp season is right around the corner.
Until it starts, though, we invite you to check out our Patriots player profile series, our weekly community discussions, and any other on-site content.
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