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All eyes have been on New England Patriots cornerback Christian Gonzalez as he's been sidelined for the past week with an injury. The team is set to start joint practice with the Philadelphia Eagles, and head coach Mike Vrabel was asked if Gonzalez would be participating. “Vrabel says no Christian Gonzalez again today for the Patriots’ joint practice vs the Eagles. Hasn’t suited up in a week and a half after suffering some sort of ankle injury,” Ben Volin of the Boston Globe wrote on X, formerly Twitter. The Patriots seem to be playing it safe with Gonzalez, but he also may be looking out for himself due to contract talks. There's a chance the cornerback will be getting a huge payday, especially after looking at the number that Devon Witherspoon recently signed for. “Now all eyes turn to Christian Gonzalez for the New England Patriots, another star corner… also vying to be the NFL's next highest paid cornerback in history. My expectation is that will happen, that if they're able to get a deal, he will be the highest-paid. No deal yet. Meanwhile, Gonzalez has not been at practice the last couple of days,” Ian Rapoport of NFL Network said. It would be important for Gonzalez to stay as healthy as possible through this stretch so the Patriots don't use injuries as an excuse for not paying him. Regardless, Gonzalez has been playing like the best cornerback in the league over the past few seasons, and there's no doubt that he'll be getting a huge extension. For now, the best thing for Gonzalez to do is continue to nurse his ankle injury and hope to be out on the field with his teammates sooner rather than later.