FOXBOROUGH, Mass. _ Summer vacation is over. The Patriots are back to work.
Players, coaches and staff members were at Gillette Stadium on Wednesday in preparation for the start of Thursday's training camp. This kick starts the unofficial start of the 2019 season. On Wednesday, Bill Belichick met with the media to talk about the state of the Patriots.
"Always good to get going this time of year," Belichick said. "It's been a lot of hard work and preparation put into the 2019 season going all the way back to February 4. Various aspects of team building, training, offseason program, OTAs, minicamp, so forth and so on. Now's the chance where we can really start to see it all come together.
"There's a lot of different types of players on our team. Some guys that have been here before some who are new. Some that have been with other teams in the league and in various stages of experience. Excited to work with all of them. Excited to see how it all comes together. We'll just take it one step at a time, one day at a time. We obviously have a long, long way to go."
There are plenty of questions surrounding the Patriots this year. On Wednesday, Belichick didn't have many answers as the Patriots are still in a 'wait and see' mode for a handful of players.
At the moment, Tom Brady comes to camp in the final year of his contract. According to NBC Boston, Brady's camp and the Patriots are talking about an extension, but the team has been balking at the length of a new deal.
Asked about Brady's contract, Belichick replied, "I'm not going to talk about player contracts or any contracts for that matter."
On Josh Gordon, the Patriots are in a holding pattern. The receiver is suspended indefinitely by the NFL for violating the league's substance abuse policy. There's no timetable for his return.
"That will be a league matter," Belichick said. "You should talk to them about it."
On a positive note, Isaiah Wynn won't start training camp on the physically unable to perform list after suffering an Achilles injury last summer. The 2018 first-round pick could start the season as the Patriots starting left tackle, replacing Trent Brown.
"We'll see where everybody is," Belichick said when asked about Wynn. "That's part of the start of training camp is to evaluate everybody's physical condition, especially the players that didn't participate last year or are new to the team that are dealing with some kind of condition. I don't know. We'll see how it all goes."
The other 2018 first-round pick, Sony Michel, will start the summer on the PUP list. The running back had another procedure on his knee this offseason and missed OTAs and minicamp.
"I think Sony's working hard," Belichick said. "We have players that are in a lot of different stages of physical readiness at this point and time. Take it day-by-day. See how it goes."
