Bill Belichick Mum On Tom Brady’s Contract Status, Sony Michel’s Knee

FOXBORO, Mass. — Bill Belichick was in midseason form Wednesday morning at his season-opening news conference, sidestepping questions about his quarterback’s contract and the health of his leading rusher.

Speaking one day before the New England Patriots’ first training camp practice, Belichick declined to address a possible extension for Tom Brady, who is set to enter a contract year for the first time in his 20-year NFL career.

“I’m not going to talk about player contracts,” the head coach said. “Or any other contracts for that matter.”

Brady’s current contract expires after the 2019 season, and reports this week from NFL Media’s Tom Pelissero and NBC Sports Boston’s Tom E. Curran indicated no extension is imminent.

Belichick’s response on a question about Sony Michel’s current status was similarly terse. Michel, who rushed for 931 yards in 13 regular-season games as a rookie and scored six touchdowns in the playoffs, currently is on the physically unable to perform list after reportedly undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery earlier this offseason. Knee issues have hindered Michel throughout his young NFL career, causing him to miss the entire 2018 preseason, New England’s season opener and two additional games last October and November. The 2018 first-round pick also did not participate in mandatory minicamp this offseason.

“I think Sony’s working hard,” Belichick said. “I think we have players that are in a lot of different stages of physical, let’s call it, readiness at this time. We’ll just take it day by day and see how it goes.”

If Michel’s injury persists into training camp, rookie Damien Harris likely will see an uptick in practice reps as he competes with James White, Rex Burkhead and Brandon Bolden for playing time.