The Official Gonzo Extension Watch Thread

[JoeSixPat]

My guess is the team wants him to play


Problem with Bedard's take is good CBs getting an extension before their 4th season is starting to be a trend. Stingley and Gardner got new contracts before their 4th year and Surtain got an extension before his 4th year.

Gonzalez or at least his agent/agency is sitting there going well these guys got it and my guy is as good or better. Also Gonzalez and Surtain are repped by the same agency so it's probably been a point used in talks.

Well the system is pretty much designed that way

They get paid rookie contracts and if they're not worth it, they don't get the 5th year extension for a high salary. If they're worth that high salary even for one year, they're worth keeping beyond that so the teams have an incentive to bring the 5th year amount down from the $18 million Gonzales is due to get with an extension - note that Sauce Gardner only got a $14 million signing bonus and a $9 million cap hit for this year - but effectively is guaranteed $70 mil over 3 years

Keep in mind that Gonzo has only made $12 million over his career so far, so he can double that with his signing bonus on an extension while still saving the Pats up to $10 million on the cap next year compared to his 5th year option.

This is the way the NFL and players have designed it and for a player who is worth the 5 year extension, it's fair to both sides, which is why this gets done. And yes, his agent will probably wait until Witherspoon is signed, but they'll both just get a small raise over what Sauce Gardner got - though they'd better hope their contract isn't designed to be traded like his was.

 

[jdlboot14]

I think they can do an extension that doesn't hit the massive top-dollar money until next year. It'd be like signing him to a big deal next offseason, but they do it now to appease the player and still give him a bump of ~$15M as a bonus now. But his base deal would be the same this year, and everything kicks in next year. That would make sense for both sides.
Also, I'm all in favor of establishing an injury clause in all longterm/gtd money deals - where if they miss X number of games, their annual salary is cut to a minimum injury amount. The guaranteed money thing needs to be adjusted league-wide. There's just no way a team should be forced to pay $30M to a player who doesn't play, and they still have to go sign & pay another FA to fill that spot.

 

[ScottishPatriots]

I just hope this doesn't drag on and on.

You start sitting out days of camp due to contract issues those are days your body needs to prepare for a gruelling season that you can never get back, that's when you start picking up all these muscle injuries during the season.

 

[n1997y]

I think they can do an extension that doesn't hit the massive top-dollar money until next year. It'd be like signing him to a big deal next offseason, but they do it now to appease the player and still give him a bump of ~$15M as a bonus now. But his base deal would be the same this year, and everything kicks in next year. That would make sense for both sides.
Also, I'm all in favor of establishing an injury clause in all longterm/gtd money deals - where if they miss X number of games, their annual salary is cut to a minimum injury amount. The guaranteed money thing needs to be adjusted league-wide. There's just no way a team should be forced to pay $30M to a player who doesn't play, and they still have to go sign & pay another FA to fill that spot.

Thats one sided nonsense. It protects the team by raping the player.

You’re also ignoring the common occurrence of guarantees for injury in contracts. Your suggestion flies in the face of that common practice.

Why should anyone who gets hurt doing their job be penalized by losing their livelihood?

It’s not the player’s fault they got injured. The team profits from their performance, if that performance causes them to be injured the team should compensate them for it. They’re paid a lot because their performance is valued highly by the team, if they lose their ability to perform because of injury they should be rightfully compensated for their lost wages somehow. Maybe it should fall on the league, sort of a workmen’s comp fund (there’s a precedent that workers shouldn’t suffer financial loss due to otj injury, btw), but the player shouldn’t be penalized for getting hurt. They certainly neither wanted nor tried to be injured.

 

[mgteich]

Perhaps Vrabel is waiting on additional signings until this issue is addressed. We might need to give Gonzalez a $20M bonus to play this year while he waits for an extension to be negotiated.

 

[rkarp1]

logic dictates Gonzo's agent is slow walking this deal.
the agent reps both Gonzo and fellow needs to be signed CB Witherspoon.
the Seahawks are for sale, coming off a SB win, and want all their ducks in a row to make the sale
two of those ducks were their young WR and CB
WR signed. CB next.
after Witherspoon resets the CB market, Gonzo is up next to reset it again

 

[mayoclinic]

 

[TheRainMaker]

Seems like we have conflict of interest here. The agent represents both Witherspoon and Gonzalez. Both CB's would like the other to sign first so they can then try to reset the market. You know they are both asking their Agent what the status is for the other CB.

 

[rochrist]

Seems like we have conflict of interest here. The agent represents both Witherspoon and Gonzalez. Both CB's would like the other to sign first so they can then try to reset the market. You know they are both asking their Agent what the status is for the other CB.

Its about Seattle being for sale and wanting Sitherspoon signed before that.

 

[DaBruinz]

Its about Seattle being for sale and wanting Sitherspoon signed before that.

That is definitely affecting the situation.

I know that @JoeSixPat mentioned Sauce Gardner, but Joe missed the new deal that McDuffie signed. That deal came AFTER Gardner's.

Yes, Gardner and McDuffie got relatively low Signing bonuses. However, look at their guaranteed money.

Gardner got $84.65M in total guarantees with $120M in new money. McDuffie's contract had $100M in total guarantees with 124M in new money. (Note: Some of the guaranteed money listed by OTC is from the previous Jets contract).

I think that Gonzalez and Witherspoon are looking at 4 or 5 year deals that pay them $35M-40M AAV with $112M-160M in guarantees.

Now, I'm sure there are going to be some people who explode over those numbers, but McDuffie's contract had 80% of it's total guaranteed. And that is what I'm figuring for both Gonzo and Witherspoon

And those numbers are why I'm saying that the Pats need to carry over as much money this year as possible to cover that Contract AND replacing/re-signing the numerous Free Agents that the Pats currently have after the 2026 season. Not to mention getting ready to pay Maye's contract which could see him as the first $67.5M-80M AAV QB. The only team the Pats really need to work about screwing up the pay scale is the Bears when they try to get Willams to an extension. The Pats NEED to be the ones in control of that and not let the Bears and Willams dictate things. The one thing going for the Pats, in this respect, is that the Bears are likely to shed 3-5 big time contracts after the 2026 season to free up money.