When Gronk signed his deal he became the highest paid TE in the NFL and the cap was 117 mill, Irt is now going to be 153mill a 25% increase. At the time of Gronk's signing TE was not "glory" position it is now. CB was and remains a preeminent position and the best players make 12-15 mill a year. He is not going to sign a contract (his only high value one) for 6-7 mill a year which is 50% of what the top guys are playing for. My proposal of locking him up for 5 years till he is 30 years old gives him hope that like Revis, he can still get another payday. But puts a 10-15 mill SB in his pocket so that at least his long term financial needs are addressed.
Gronk was also coming off the single greatest tight end season in the history of football, and a top 10 receiving season, so yes there are some differences.
The Gronk contract also didnt make him the highest paid TE, but one of. It looked like more when first reported as a new contract, but with it actually an extension, the 2 years left on the original contract drove the contract down.
His deal was split into two smaller deals.
8mil signing bonus up front
first 4 years: 14mil-3.5 per avg
10mil guarantee kicks in 2015
last 4 years: 37 mill- 9.25 per avg
If Butler has a desire to get in to upper echelon dollars, I would bet heavily that those years will be in to his 30s, when Belichick has the option to walk away. If Butler wants his "revis rights", he will just have to grit his teeth on his 3 Pat controlled season and hope we can stay healthy.
Pats are in a no lose position here. If they sign him early, they will surely have him locked up below market compared to other top CBs. If they cant strike a deal, they will have the best bargain in the league for the next 3 seasons.
Butler gets the short stick no matter what way he goes, but he can help himself by signing earlier and guaranteeing long term security.