One story that came as a surprise as training camps open around the NFL was the absence of veteran OLB Derrick Burgess from Patriots workouts. Burgess was a no-show again Friday, and Patriots coach Bill Belichick didn’t have much to say about it.

Amid reports that Burgess was considering retirement, Belichick addressed the situation to open his session with reporters Friday.

“Derrick [Burgess], of course, wasn’t here yesterday,” Belichick said. “We expected him to be here. He’s not here. This type of situation certainly isn’t unprecedented. We’ll just deal with it going forward. I’m not exactly sure that I know all the information that I need to know, so that’s what it is for now. We’ll just take that day-by-day.”

The absence sounds as though it came as a surprise to Belichick, who would only repeat that the Patriots “expected him to be there” when asked if that was the case. Belichick wouldn’t say whether he had spoken to Burgess, who re-signed with the team in May. Sans Burgess, Rob Ninkovich has worked opposite returning starter Tully Banta-Cain, per Patriots.com.

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