Wilfork makes presence felt

However, the no longer no-show nose tackle sounded a conciliatory tone yesterday, saying there is no bad blood between himself and the Patriots and implying that he will not skip the start of training camp next month.

"I love football," said Wilfork. "It's something mandatory. I signed a six-year deal. I'm going to meet all my obligations and that's being here for mandatory stuff. That's why I was here. It wasn't a big deal if I was going to show up or not. All this while, I knew where I kind of wanted to be. At the same time, I still had some uncertainty of what was going on, and do I really want to come out here? But at the end of the day, I felt it was best for me to come out here, and it's best for the organization to know that I am out here. At the end of the day, I'm still a Patriot and I want to be a Patriot."

While he was happy to be back with his teammates, Wilfork had 500,000 reasons to return to the team since he potentially risked forfeiting that amount of dollars - a prorated portion of the signing bonus from the rookie deal he signed in 2004 - if he didn't show up.

Wilfork said his potential loss of income wasn't a big factor.

"I was aware of that for a while, but I wouldn't say that played a big part in my decision to come here," he said of the forfeiture language. "I told you that it's in my contract, to be here. I live up to my word. It's mandatory, I will be here. I don't care what it is."

Wilfork said he wasn't worried about his attendance at minicamp weakening his bargaining position. But Wilfork's presence should not be interpreted as a signal that he's backing off his desire for a new deal, only a sign that he's leaving the posturing to his agent, Kennard McGuire.