Is it time to be worried about Christian Gonzalez’s hamstring injury?

There’s a rising chance that the Patriots might head into their season opener with out their greatest defensive participant.

Christian Gonzalez continues to be nursing a hamstring injury he suffered on New England’s first day of padded practices on the finish of July. He hasn’t been capable of observe because the harm occurred, and in accordance with The Athletic’s Jeff Howe, his Week 1 standing is at the moment unsure.

Howe collected information on all 32 teams as Week 1 of the NFL season approaches, and when it got here to the Patriots, he had this to say about Gonzalez:

“His hamstring harm has been a difficult one, and it’s been powerful to pin down a timetable on his return.”

Former New England middle David Andrews chimed in on X after the report, voicing his concern for Gonzalez’s availability.

“When will we begin to fear about Christian Gonzalez for Week 1?,” Andrews wrote on X. “Hamstrings could be actually powerful and also you positively need him wholesome trigger you don’t need him to be on the market for 2 weeks and the down one other six but it surely’s a bit of regarding.”

As Andrews alluded, hamstring accidents have notably lingering impacts on NFL gamers, and coming again too quickly can typically do extra hurt than good. It’s been over a month since Gonzalez suffered the preliminary harm, and 5 weeks might be sufficient time for the second-team All-Professional to totally get better, however the danger of re-injury complicates issues.

New England added to its defensive again group this offseason, signing former Lions and Buccaneers standout nook Carlton Davis to pair alongside Gonzalez. So no less than there are reinforcements to the group if Gonzalez is compelled to overlook Week 1.

Gonzalez wasn’t positioned on injured reserve previous to roster cuts, which is an effective signal that the staff doesn’t view his harm affecting the longterm. If positioned on IR, he would have missed the primary 4 video games of the season at minimal earlier than being designated to return.

Subsequent week’s practices will present a greater indicator if Gonzalez will ramp as much as play or not, however there’s an opportunity that the Patriots tackle the Raiders with out the defensive stalwart.