FOXBORO — Asante Samuel is not with the New England Patriots right now, and if he stands by what he said on Monday, he won’t be with them for quite some time.

But regardless of how long Samuel holds out, Bill Belichick will have nothing to say about the cornerback until he is on the field with the team.

Asked several times yesterday for his feelings on the disgruntled corner — who said on Monday that he feels “unappreciated” and won’t be on the field until Week 10 of the regular season — Belichick not surprisingly refused to get into any discussion about him.

When he was first asked about Samuel, Belichick said, “I’m just coaching the guys that are here. That’s all I’m focused on.”

For the next question, this about his philosophy of handling players who are threatening to hold out: “My philosophy is to coach the team that’s here.”

And when the final question of the day was about Samuel, he replied, “Are there any more questions about guys that are here?”

The answers are no different than those Belichick gave regarding Deion Branch last summer and Richard Seymour the year before, and they likely won’t change regardless of how long the situation with Samuel drags on.

Among the missing

First-round draft pick Brandon Meriweather was among several players not on the field yesterday, joining receiver Chad Jackson, safeties Mel Mitchell and James Sanders, corners Antwain Spann and Eddie Jackson, running back Laurence Maroney, linebacker Eric Alexander, tight end David Thomas and defensive lineman Richard Seymour.

Asked why Meriweather wasn’t on the field for the mandatory session, Belichick said, “There are different things going on with different players. Some will be out there tomorrow and some will not be.”

In an e-mail, Meriweather’s agent, Joby Branion, referred questions about his client to the Patriots’ media relations department.

Brady on pass defense

With all of the chatter about the Pats’ revamped receiving corps, Tom Brady reminded everyone yesterday that the guys who caught the ball last season weren’t all that bad.

“You hear so much about the new guys, and I kind of take offense a little bit (on behalf of) the guys we had last year and how hard they worked,” he said. “We were in the AFC Championship Game (with those players). I think over the last half of the season we threw the ball pretty effectively, and Reche (Caldwell) had the best year of his career, Jabar (Gaffney) had one of the best years of his career, Troy (Brown) had a great year, Ben (Watson) had the best year of his career; so a lot of guys put in a lot of work last year.

“I’ll say this: Everyone’s come in and worked really hard, and I think everyone’s pleased with the work we’ve put in and I’m excited for the season to really get started. Unfortunately, we’re still about six weeks away, but it’s fun to be out here and it’s fun to see everyone on the field running our offense.”

Squib kicks

Quarterback Vinny Testaverde was on the field again yesterday with the Patriots, although he remains unsigned by the team. The 20-year veteran spent the second half of last season as the Pats’ third quarterback, and got to extend his league record for consecutive seasons with a touchdown pass when he connected with Brown against Tennessee in the regular-season finale. Belichick was mum on Testaverde’s future with New England: “He’s an unrestricted free agent who is participating in our offseason program,” he said. ... Brown, who took part in the team’s annual charitable foundation golf tournament on Monday, was not on the field yesterday. Belichick said there is no news on Brown’s status. ... Team owner Robert Kraft took in much of the practice session yesterday, standing between the two fields wearing a Patriots cap. ... Running back Sammy Morris was wearing a red no-contact jersey, as he was during last week’s passing camp. ... There were no fewer than 60 media members in attendance yesterday for a non-contact minicamp — including reporters from ESPN, the NFL Network and espn.com.

smanza@projo.com