Christian Gonzalez Faces Race to be Available for Return as Season Opener Against Las Vegas Looms

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The Pats Corner.

With half a week to go before the New England Patriots open their 2025 season against the Las Vegas Raiders at Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, MA, Mike Vrabel has a headache owing to one Christian Gonzalez, a young star, who I personally had as one of my 2025 captains - who still hasn't practiced since July 28th.

I'm not concerned about his ability, everyone knows his talent is abundant, but I am concerned he may be missing for longer than people in Foxborough are revealing. We could probably survive without him for the Raiders game but I would like to get a more concrete picture on his return. So, what's happening?

Patriots Head Coach Mike Vrabel on The Greg Hill Show on WEEI Tuesday offered little confidence that Gonzalez will be available for week one and even stated a more pessimistic view that Gonzalez is "day-to-day" and he emphasized caution over urgency. “Everybody heals differently,” Vrabel said. “The most important thing is making sure that when the players are back, they can do their job with confidence, and without risking further injury.”

We, in New England are far away from the Belichick days, but during Bill's reign, more often than not, if a player hadn't practiced by Wednesday, they weren't playing on Sunday. I suspect Vrabel is like Bill in that sense, if Gonzalez practiced later in the week, he still wouldn't play. While the Patriots need to start well, there is also a player welfare issue, and forcing Gonzalez into a game that they should be able to win without him is at best silly, and at worst, pure negligence.

Hamstring injuries are notoriously difficult to deal with and have a record of persistently recurring which poses a heightened risk for a corner who is exploding into a sprint and has rapid change of direction by the nature of their position. Gonzalez coming back prematurely is no good to us if he aggravates the injury and spends most of the 2025 season sidelined. Medical experts have stated that hamstrings are often one of the most difficult injury in athletes to treat and to give an accurate timeframe for return/recovery. This explains why we haven't seen Christian in a while but also explains the coaching staff's hesitancy in giving a timeframe for his return.

Gonzalez is undoubtedly one of our best players so we must tread carefully, especially since his rookie season was prematurely cut short owing to a shoulder injury that required surgery. In Christian's absence, the Patriots will lean heavily on first year captain, Marcus Jones, and veteran Carlton Davis. 

Head Coach Mike Vrabel added that “We’ll just keep working,”. “When Christian’s ready, he’ll be back. Until then, we trust the guys we have out there.”

I personally am hoping (delusion) that we receive positive news tomorrow, when teams typically release their first injury reports ahead of Sunday games. Until then, one of the league’s most promising defenders remains sidelined and the Patriots must find a way to win without him. Can the Pats do it? Of course they can, but it's more difficult without him.

But I am confident that even if the Patriots don't have Christian on Sunday, they can still have a much improved performance and season overall, provided he makes it back for subsequent games.

The Patriots open their 2025 season at home to the Las Vegas Raiders at 1 p.m. EST Sunday September 7th. Live on CBS/WBZ and radio coverage on 98.5 FM The Sports Hub. We at The Pats Corner will also have a live thread here on our website and updates on our socials during the game.

Note from our editor: Our website will be undergoing maintenance ahead of the 2025 season but will be available for our season opener against the Las Vegas Raiders. We hope to see you visiting our website soon. Go Pats!