With the Super Bowl more than two months in the past, the 2018 offseason will finally come to an end for the New England Patriots' players – at least for now: The team will kick off its first phase of workouts at Gillette Stadium today. As regulated by the collective bargaining agreement, the sessions that begin today will focus on strength and conditioning work.
Even though the workouts are voluntary, participation is once again expected to be solid and only a handful of players are expected to miss today's session. Among those who will not be in attendance today are the team's two biggest star players, though: Quarterback Tom Brady and tight end Rob Gronkowski will reportedly not join their teammates.
And while Brady, who is in Qatar as part of a charity event, will not have any financial ramifications because of his absence, Gronkowski might: The NFL's best tight end is one of 15 players who are in line to earn workouts bonuses in case they attend more than 90% of New England's voluntary workouts. The full list looks as follows (per the Boston Globe's Ben Volin):
WR Julian Edelman: $500,000
TE Rob Gronkowski: $250,000
WR Cordarrelle Patterson: $250,000
DT Lawrence Guy: $200,000
K Stephen Gostkowski: $100,000
SS Patrick Chung: $85,000
TE Troy Niklas: $75,000
WR Kenny Britt: $50,000
OT Marcus Cannon: $50,000
LB Marquis Flowers: $50,000
RB Jeremy Hill: $50,000
OT LaAdrian Waddle: $50,000
RB Brandon Bolden: $30,000
FB James Develin: $25,000
OT Matt Tobin: $25,000
As noted above, the workouts starting today are voluntary. The first day that players are mandated to be with the team is June 5, the start of the Patriots' minicamp.