You were just claiming that it would be no problem at all to maintain a grass field year-round at Gillette despite past efforts and failures, that it would have been done in a snap…except Kraft is cheap.
Now it would be “mind-numbingly easy” to negotiate the biggest CB contract in NFL history, even while another client of the player’s agent is trying unsuccessfully to negotiate the exact same thing in Seattle..except Kraft is cheap.
Props for consistency, I guess.
I will remind you the Patriots are valued at $9 billion.
If they had gone to Gonzalez immediately and locked the extension in, instead of dragging their feet, we wouldn't be in this position. He wants to be here. He wants to be paid what he's worth. He's one of the best, if not the best at his position - a model citizen that you drafted, and has become one of the faces of the league.
So, instead of just giving him a big offer as soon as they were able to do so - they waited, and I said on here many times "Every day they wait, the price only goes up", and to the surprise of no one, it has.
And now you've dragged the negotiations through camp, Kraft went to the media trying to spin the narrative in his direction (apparently you've bought in to the blatant propaganda, good for you, I guess, the poor, misunderstood Bob Kraft just struggling trying to hang onto his franchise - which he bought for $172 million. Thrown in the $300 million for the stadium, and the additional $100+ million for the upgrades - and Bob Kraft has made his money back - about 500 times over). So now, instead of just having the deal done, and doing an excellent player a solid, and doing right by him - we're here, and Gonzalez' only leverage is making vague tweets and holding out of OTAs.
This will be hanging over the team until it gets done - eventually the national media will get a bigger hold of it, and report about it on slow news days throughout the season until it gets done. Then we get to do it all again next season.
You're intentionally antagonizing an all-pro, homegrown talent who just turned 25. Yes, you can pay him his option year in 2027, and then franchise him twice, keeping him here through 2029. You can absolutely do that.
But here's the thing. Other players in the league see this. Wonder why the owner wouldn't just open his pocketbook to pay a player like Gonzalez to lock him up long-term. The Patriots, under Kraft and Belichick, already have the reputation for being cheap. We've seen this through the NFLPA surveys. You can agree or disagree with it on your perspective, but unfortunately your perspective isn't the reality of how players in the league think.
This means less free agents come here. It's really that simple. Why is Milton Williams here? They threw a bunch of money at him, and he's been worth every penny. Looked like the Patriots might be turning the corner, right? Going from 'bottom 5 in real cash spending' over the last 5, last 10, last 20 years, to actually using that money to invest in their team, right?
Well, they signed Steph Diggs to a fake contract, and let him go after a year. All he did was put up the best WR season by a Patriot since Julian Edelman. Sure, he probably knew the deal, but still, players, agents, they see that. Seems like 'same old Patriots'.
So, they drag their feet, trying to salvage a few dollars on the back-end of Gonzalez' contract - a contract which would be a bargain by the end of it, no matter what they sign him for - that's just how player salaries go, they always go up. Also, the salary cap always goes up (unless there's a pandemic). "AJ Brown is so expensive", sure, they're paying him, but the reason it cost a first round pick to get him, is because the Eagles are footing a good portion of that contract. They 'paid' Romeo Doubs, but he's got a team-friendly out in 2027.
And what happens when Maye's up for extension after the end of the year - another home-grown draft pick, 2nd in the MVP voting last year by a single vote? Are they going to drag their feet on that extension too?
The reputation that 'Kraft is Cheap' isn't a meme, it's deserved through 32 years of ownership. Nickel and diming on contracts, substandard facilities for the players (until they were guilted into it by those NFLPA surveys). Sure, they have a new facility now. They have requisite child care for the players in the league *now*, but that was in direct response to media pressure. If it hadn't existed, they wouldn't have bothered with the upgrades. Flashy team planes with the big 'Patriots' logo on the side - don't mention that the planes themselves are older than Bob Kraft has owned the team, and the surveys complain about those as well. It was a great investment over chartering planes like other teams do, but it's a cost-saving measure, and an advertisement ploy as much as anything.
I remind you again, the Patriots are valued at 9 billion dollars. Bob Kraft is no longer the 'fan trying to save the franchise', he hasn't been that in a long, long time. They have the money, they have the cap space, and the player wants to be here. So why are we still here?
And yes, they could absolutely have a grass field with high-end technology, which would save their players from getting concussions and ACL tears so easily. Yes, they'd have to fix the grass after New Country Act has a concert or there's a Monster Truck Rally. Say it costs them a hundred thousand to fix it every time (it doesn't, but let's say it does) If you make $90,000 this would be the equivalent of spending $100. It's pennies, if you care about your player's safety.
The reputation is more than warranted, and there are dozens of example of it over the last 32 years. If you want to give him a pass for it, that's more than fine, and your choice. I choose not to, and will push back any time someone tries to side with Kraft crying poverty.
