Onwenu Takes Paycut for 2026

[Huckleberry1]

Really smart management. The OL is sett for the next couple of years with the possible exception of a depth piece on the interior line. It looks like they believe they can go for it, and are going to make a couple of moves to put them into position for a run at a Lombardi. If Roseman ants to play games they could sign Diggs and trade for Sweatt, or possibly even go after Garrett.

 

[rkarp1]

Felger ain't my boy despite my avatar.

The NBA has a hard cap. The NFL do have a hard cap with rookies, but not overall.

I will tell you this. Quarterback salaries are going to start to make the cap less and less flexible for a lot of teams. When an average QB is getting upwards to $50 million a year, it is giving teams a lot of hassle with what they can do.

the cap will soon be $400m
relax and pay your streaming fees

 

[rkarp1]

Really smart management. The OL is sett for the next couple of years with the possible exception of a depth piece on the interior line. It looks like they believe they can go for it, and are going to make a couple of moves to put them into position for a run at a Lombardi. If Roseman ants to play games they could sign Diggs and trade for Sweatt, or possibly even go after Garrett.

does this mean you believe Onwenu will be here next season? after they cut him $7m this season?

 

[40yrpatsfan]

Where are you seeing the dummy year reported? This does not seem to be the case. It's been reported everywhere as pretty straight forward...

Old: $17.5M base salary
New: $2.95M salary, $6M signing bonus

He takes a $7.5M paycut in actual cash and we save the same on the cap.

Yeah, he's now guaranteed $10m this year, instead of $17.5m that wasn't guaranteed. One thing I'm wondering about is why have the $6m as a signing bonus instead of salary? It's not amortized so it all counts against the 2026 cap.

 

[JoeSixPat]

Better it be for extending Gonzo.

Yup - they've got the money for Brown already set aside.

These things need to take place before they extend Gonzo but I'm sure that will happen.

Great win win move for Owenu and the team to get his cap hit down (I think it was $25 million for this season?)

Contracts like his are meant to be renegotiated and in this case, with no guaranteed money before now, it's a fair tradeoff

With this being a 1 year deal though I get the sense that they may be moving on from him next year when he'll hit free agency (he'll do well if he continues to play like he has, but we may be priced out of that by then and one hopes one of our younger guys steps up)

 

[Rob0729]

the cap will soon be $400m
relax and pay your streaming fees

And by the time Maye can get a contract, his yearly salary is going to be over $60 million. Gonzalez' is going to be over $30 million. That is two players.

 

[TommyD4207]

I have a feeling I'm going be right about this one.

 

[PatsFan2]

 

[Hyped]

This time last year, I was torn between Cardona, Dugger, Jennings, and Onwenu for a jersey choice. Ended up with a Vrabel jersey.

With Onwenu’s pay cut, I am getting his jersey now. We are not cutting a guy who has 10M guaranteed.

Really looking forward to a lineup of: Campbell, Vera-Tucker, Wilson?, Onwenu, and Lomu?

Think that along with the new blocking TE and a true FB in Gilliam….. Henderson should be taking it to the house 10x…..

 

[Wozzy]

oooof
do you not understand the cap or what??
the guy just took a $7m haircut

What’s more, no contract or a guaranteed contract for this year?

He wasn’t going to play without some guaranteed money. You think people will show up and play just because a piece of paper says they should… pull your head from your rear.

 

[Wozzy]

I wish whoever came out with the term the "cap is crap" never did. It is such a misleading statement. The cap is flexible. It isn't crap.

Felger

 

[Triumph]

I dont want him ext this offseason, I want to see him play more of the season. We have him for two more years now and can tag him after that.

Carlton Davis and Marcus Jones earn more that Gonzo right now.

 

[BobDigital]

Do they? it says guaranteed.



You are correct if you say that the only thing that matters in an NFL contract is guaranteed money, but that has nothing to do with the cap.

If it's not guaranteed, you can cut a player and save everything cap, but the guaranteed money previous and future, that hasn't counted against the cap yet.

That doesn't make it crap.

Pretty sure they did (before this deal)/ 7.5M was already dead and paid for). The 17.5M he was getting paid besides that on the other hand wouldn't have counted until he made the 53 man roster I am pretty sure. I don't think June 1 was the deadline. I think it was the 53 Man roster under current rules. If I am wrong someone can correct me. Now with the new deal that is not the case.

I do not think Onwenu is happy, unless he knew for a fact he was never going to get all of that 17.5M extra. If he knew that was off the table, he is probably happy to get some secured cash. If he believed he was going to get it this year then told no he is probably not that that happy. Yes he is protected from a preseason injury situation, but he only needed to stay healthy a few months for it to lock in.

The timing of this is interesting as it is after the free agency smoke has cleared. If they were planning on cutting him he would have surely preferred for it to happen earlier. I think we can all agree a pre june 1 cut or pre 53 man roster cut is not the way he would want to hit free agency.

So either he always knew this was in the cards, and it was just hashing out the details, or it came to a head and he probably is less than happy right now, but at least has the benefit getting paid today. That's something.

 

[Triumph]

Onwenu was scheduled to have a $17.5M base salary this year. Now he has a $6M signing bonus paid up front and a $2.95M salary. So he took a $7.5M paycut. Instead of making $17.5M this year he will only make $10M.

Everybody knew before hand that the 17.5 Mil would not stand.

The allure of Onwenu to do this deal is 6 Mil in his checking account right now.

 

[Triumph]

This time last year, I was torn between Cardona, Dugger, Jennings, and Onwenu for a jersey choice. Ended up with a Vrabel jersey.

With Onwenu’s pay cut, I am getting his jersey now. We are not cutting a guy who has 10M guaranteed.

Really looking forward to a lineup of: Campbell, Vera-Tucker, Wilson?, Onwenu, and Lomu?

Think that along with the new blocking TE and a true FB in Gilliam….. Henderson should be taking it to the house 10x…..

No Moses?

Campbell - Tucker - Wilson - Onwenu - Moses

 

[mgteich]

Yeah, he's now guaranteed $10m this year, instead of $17.5m that wasn't guaranteed. One thing I'm wondering about is why have the $6m as a signing bonus instead of salary? It's not amortized so it all counts against the 2026 cap.

The $6M gets paid now. Onwenu can relax. Also, if the team now choses to trade him, he is worth more in compensation. If we keep him, he is in a show-me contract year.

 

[mgteich]

does this mean you believe Onwenu will be here next season? after they cut him $7m this season?

No one knows.

Onwenu will be a free agent that was paid $10M for his 2026 services. He will have an opportunity to show the patriots and other teams what he is worth going forward. I suspect that both parties feel better to see what Onwenu is worth after the season, although an extension could certainly happen mid-season.

 

[BobDigital]

Maybe get baremore to do something similar

I think the Barmore contract is okay. 17M, 23.6M and 23.6M cap hit for the next 3 years for his level of play isn't bad. Overall it was a 4 year deal worth 84M isn't insane for a player like him. And this year a 17.1M cap hit a deal. If they want to apply pressure or move on from him next year or the year after make sense. For this year i would take that and be happy.

Next year is a 23.6M cap hit with 7.6M in dead cap. They can certainly consider doing something then if they want to play hard ball. But i think he is worth the 16M of cap if his play holds. But we will see. He has not been an amazing locker room guy for what that is worth. Not terrible but not amazing.

The year after is interesting... final year of his deal is 23.6M again with just a 3.6M in dead cap and he is 29 year olds. Paying him 20M then will be a very interesting choice. You would need to consider where the salary cap is, his age, his play. This could be a year to cut bait and take a very modest 3.6M hair cut to save 20M or redo the deal into his final year. I think this is more the year they decide what to do. I would not be one to pound the table that says he needs to be a life time Patriot if it comes to that.

I personally don't see much in the way of easy cap savings this year now after this deal... unless they cut Douglas. That saves 3.6M and i think it is a possibility.

I assume Boutte is gone in the Brown deal.

Brown, Doubs, Hollins Williams all should be locks. Hopefully Williams makes a yr 2 jump. Maybe they want to give Chism or someone else more of a look. The fact they brought in so many WRs means they are not happy with their depth. You may ask who is their 5th WR if they do that. But I question if he is even worth the 3.6M. They probably will have 2 TEs or 1 TE and a FB on the field along with an RB much of the time anyway.

IMO a guy like Raridon has a chance to make an impact as there are catches up for grabs. I could easily see him having a 300 yard rookie year. I don't think we will see a lot of 3 WR looks and Douglas doesn't play STs.

 

[mgteich]

Guards are too easy to find compared to other premium positions to continue paying one nearly 20m a year for 3 years

Onwenu is being paid $10M for his 2026 services.

No one is suggesting paying him $20M a year as a free agent.

 

[mgteich]

I assume Boutte is gone in the Brown deal.

Brown, Doubs, Hollins Williams all should be locks. Hopefully Williams makes a yr 2 jump. Maybe they want to give Chism or someone else more of a look. The fact they brought in so many WRs means they are not happy with their depth. You may ask who is their 5th WR if they do that. But I question if he is even worth the 3.6M. They probably will have 2 TEs or 1 TE and a FB on the field along with an RB much of the time anyway.

IMO a guy like Raridon has a chance to make an impact as there are catches up for grabs. I could easily see him having a 300 yard rookie year. I don't think we will see a lot of 3 WR looks and Douglas doesn't play STs.

The open question is whether our backup slot receuiver is worth more than $3.5M.