Then-Patriot Chris Long in Super Bowl 51. (Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
BOSTON (WBZ-AM) -- Patriots rookies will report to training camp Sunday, then veterans must arrive a week from today. Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski didn't take part in the team's optional offseason workouts, but both are expected to be on time for mandatory camp--even in spite of all the reported drama surrounding strained relationships.
Chris Long won a Super Bowl in his lone season in New England in 2016, before winning another ring with Philadelphia against his old team last year.
Long appeared on the Glass Half Empty podcast and was asked about the friction in Foxboro.
"In the NFL locker room, under a lot of stress, over a year period, there are going to be story lines that people can choose to kind of blow out of proportion or not pay attention to, and when you're one of the hallmark franchises in the sports world, I think everybody's going to pay attention to sometimes really small issues," Long said. "Whatever people are alluding to going on over there hasn't effected their play. It hasn't effected their bottom line, it hasn't effected the way they execute on Sundays, and that's what they pride themselves in. When you got the greatest quarterback of all time and possibly the greatest coach of all time, that's why they're in those big games, and it took everything for us to beat them."
Pats remain Super Bowl favorites.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Adam Kaufman (@AdamMKaufman) reports