One of the Patriots’ longest-tenured players was a no-show at the first day of mandatory minicamp. According to ESPN’s Mike Reiss, defensive tackle Lawrence Guy didn’t report to the Patriots on Monday and is reportedly seeking a reworked deal.
Per Reiss, Guy wants to redo the four-year, $11.5M deal ($24M max value) he signed with the Patriots during the 2021 offseason. The veteran has since changed agents and is hoping to adjust his contract following what sources described as “a challenging negotiation.” Guy is set to earn $2M this season and could earn up to another $3.5M via incentives. The defensive tackle has no remaining guaranteed money on his contract.
Bill Belichick didn’t explicitly mention Guy’s holdout today, but he noted that the team was “working through a couple things” when it came to player absences. Per Reiss, Guy would see his daily fines balloon to almost $50K if he isn’t in the building by Wednesday.
This is a bit of a surprising development for one of the team’s few remaining Super Bowl champs. Guy spent the previous six seasons in New England, earning a spot on the organization’s All-2010s Team after starting 60 of his 62 regular-season games between 2017 and 2020.
This past season, Guy started all 14 of his appearances, finishing with 46 tackles, two sacks, and five QB hits. Pro Football Focus wasn’t particularly fond of his performance, ranking him 89th among 127 qualifying interior defenders while giving him the lowest grade of his career.
Guy wasn’t the only Patriots player not in attendance today. Per Mark Daniels of MassLive.com (on Twitter), left tackle Trent Brown also didn’t show up for the first day of minicamp. However, his absence isn’t money-related; Brown’s flight from Texas was canceled due to weather, delaying his trip to New England.
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