Curran: "In my estimation... [Gonzo would like to] be treated as if he's at the table in 2027." [previous title: "say goodbye to gonzo"]

[Ring 6]

Hundred percent correct, there’s no way he’s extended next season, good as gone. Maye and rightfully so, will be prioritized next offseason.

You can sign more than 1 player in an off season

 

[DoubleDeluxe]

It’s a possibility, he works for his clients and if Gonzo has a firm stance on his must haves, there may be points that he didn’t negotiate for Witherspoon.

It’s also entirely possible that the Pats FO has an operating model that is inflexible about certain terms and when a player agrees to those terms, they can sell it to Kraft as a win.

I think the second sentence is more likely.
However, I'm guessing.

 

[PatsFanInVa]

Contract isnt up talk is just complete nonsense in today’s NFL, means nothing. Business is done differently nowadays, and it’s a fact.

If your contract's not up, you might get the deal early, but the fact that you get to break the contract by mutual agreement is factored into the new contract, "and it's a fact."

 

[Triumph]

Question: Would we receive a comp pick if/when Gonzo leaves next year? If so, what’s the compensation?

How can Gonzo leave when the Pats control his rights for 2026 and 2027?

He would be traded and for a 1st pick at the very least.

 

[Triumph]

Today’s the last day to get it done, no point of return after today. The beginning of the end for Gonzo and the Pats.

Why cant the deal be completed during the season?

 

[slash83]

If your contract's not up, you might get the deal early, but the fact that you get to break the contract by mutual agreement is factored into the new contract, "and it's a fact."

Do right by your deserving players, let him walk see the tone it sets for a so called draft develop and reward team. More bs coming from HC and front office.

 

[slash83]

Why cant the deal be completed during the season?

Prob bs but reports are Gonzo won’t sign during the season. Plus he might want to take his chance and wait, another team will pay him even more money next year when the cap goes up, again.

 

[DoubleDeluxe]

I think the second sentence is more likely.
However, I'm guessing.

Remember back in 2017 we had 3 guys we could extend/sign.
Dont'a Hightower
Chandler Jones
Jamie Collins

I remember the overwhelming thought was we would sign 2 of the 3.
We signed 1, Hightower
He received the lowest contract of the 3, and by far the lowest guaranteed money.

Now maybe that was all about football decisions.

Or maybe Kraft capped the spending and BB was forced to chose one.

 

[Triumph]

Prob bs but reports are Gonzo won’t sign during the season. Plus he might want to take his chance and wait, another team will pay him even more money next year when the cap goes up, again.

Gonzo is the loser is that scenario.

1. He risks injury playing 2026 under his rookie contract where he would have been the highest paid NFL CB, but is now earning approximately 3 mil for his services.

2. The Pats still own Gonzos rights in 2027. Gonzo can sit home or play and earn 18 mil for 2027.

 

[Ring 6]

Do right by your deserving players, let him walk see the tone it sets for a so called draft develop and reward team. More bs coming from HC and front office.

So called by who?

 

[DoubleDeluxe]

Why cant the deal be completed during the season?

It certainly can.
However the reports are Gonzo and his agent have stated they would not negotiate a deal during the season, all talks would be off.
Now that could be BS.
If Kraft called with an offer they liked, would his agent really not take the call?
I have heard this with other players in the past, and from memory, they did in fact not talk contract during the year.
There could be examples where a player/agent stated they wouldn't talk contract during the year, and did in fact sign a new deal. I don't remember.

 

[slash83]

Gonzo is the loser is that scenario.

1. He risks injury playing 2026 under his rookie contract where he would have been the highest paid NFL CB, but is now earning approximately 3 mil for his services.

2. The Pats still own Gonzos rights in 2027. Gonzo can sit home or play and earn 18 mil for 2027.

That’s why I said it’s prob bs just a tactic.

 

[Ring 6]

Remember back in 2017 we had 3 guys we could extend/sign.
Dont'a Hightower
Chandler Jones
Jamie Collins

I remember the overwhelming thought was we would sign 2 of the 3.
We signed 1, Hightower
He received the lowest contract of the 3, and by far the lowest guaranteed money.

Now maybe that was all about football decisions.

Or maybe Kraft capped the spending and BB was forced to chose one.

Both.

Collins was a freelancer and Jones off the field issues ended his chance to stay.

But at the same time I think it’s pretty clear we have operated under financial constraints all along.
Yes we spend to the cap, but our cash spending is always near the bottom over time.
What does that means?
A 1 year 10 mill deal is the same cap hit as a 5 year 100 mill with a 40 mill signing bonus and a 1st year salary of 2 mill. Each cost 10 on the cap. One costs 10 in cash, the other 42.

We have always been tight with long term high value contracts, which is clearly due to having a cash budget.
No coach or gm would prefer one year deals to aging players over long term deals to players in their prime.
To me this says even more about what BB and Brady did here because thee were financial handcuffs.

 

[slash83]

Goddells dumbass even got extended before Gonzo

 

[bogengames]

So this is the new professional athlete you signed a contract and if you don’t like it, you just want more money but if you suck, they have to honor the contract. Give me a break.

 

[DoubleDeluxe]

Both.

Collins was a freelancer and Jones off the field issues ended his chance to stay.

But at the same time I think it’s pretty clear we have operated under financial constraints all along.
Yes we spend to the cap, but our cash spending is always near the bottom over time.
What does that means?
A 1 year 10 mill deal is the same cap hit as a 5 year 100 mill with a 40 mill signing bonus and a 1st year salary of 2 mill. Each cost 10 on the cap. One costs 10 in cash, the other 42.

We have always been tight with long term high value contracts, which is clearly due to having a cash budget.
No coach or gm would prefer one year deals to aging players over long term deals to players in their prime.
To me this says even more about what BB and Brady did here because thee were financial handcuffs.

This is very true.
BB and Brady could turn water into wine.
That was the best QB/Coach combo of all time.
Unfortunately that may have set the precedent, and Kraft thinks that's the way to succeed?
Or perhaps he's not as big of fan as he claims, and the bottom line is just as, or more important to him than winning.
And we aren't talking about losing money, we are talking about still making million and millions of dollars, but maybe a few million less.
Can Maye/Vrabs repeat what BB/Brady did with less?

 

[TheRainMaker]

Remember back in 2017 we had 3 guys we could extend/sign.
Dont'a Hightower
Chandler Jones
Jamie Collins

I remember the overwhelming thought was we would sign 2 of the 3.
We signed 1, Hightower
He received the lowest contract of the 3, and by far the lowest guaranteed money.

Now maybe that was all about football decisions.

Or maybe Kraft capped the spending and BB was forced to chose one.

That was 2016. Many thought there would be no reason not to be able to retain all 3.

Chandler Jones just came off a 12 sack season and was viewed as an ascending player around the league. He still had one year left on his rookie contract, but was traded. There was probably something else going on behind him the scenes we didn’t know about aside from the incident a week before the AFCCG. Or they knew he was due for a big pay day and they were just being cheap. He was fine during his time in Arizona.

Collins fell off a cliff after his All Pro season in 2015. He was traded during the season.

BB had been told prior to him taking the job in 2000 that Bob Kraft was a pain in the ass and a cheap owner. That was most likely coming from Bill parcels and Pete Carroll.

There’s a reason why Kraft can’t shake the “cheap” among fans and it’s because it’s seems to be a massive struggle whenever it’s time to pay any significant. Since 2000, they haven’t had many players that commanded this type of contract.

 

[PatsFanInVa]

Do right by your deserving players, let him walk see the tone it sets for a so called draft develop and reward team. More bs coming from HC and front office.

Whatever tf that means.

Do right by your players = Fulfill your end of the contract. Be reasonable in renegotiation. Be fair in bargaining. Not be their stooge and screw everybody else on the roster. Give him what he wants without limit and see the tone it sets and so on and so forth. It's stupid without knowing the relative positions. If his demands are stupid enough, letting him walk is exactly what preserves the team. News flash, the $7m/year guy isn't in solidarity with the Cap Wrecker. Neither is the lesser superstar or the guy who did not set the market for his position. "It's a business" works when a guy leaves too, to a point.

You behave ignorant of how contracts work in the NFL. You can exchange things like early negotiations for a new contract. But there is no world in which the contract does not matter, and, for example, you can go work for a nicer team if you ignore your obligations. In the NFL your contract is all that matters. That is why all this revolves around getting a new contract for him.

You spout kaka like "business is done differently nowadays" and you talk derogatorily about "contract isn't up talk" specifically like football's not a business. Then you want to reserve the right to say football is a business to excuse whatever a player wants to do or say.

Do you think that the players are your buddies? They're not. They're employees. (and not of us, of the Patriots organization.) We're customers of the organization. The players are its employees. Simple.

Fortunately, I do think this is going to end up being a non-issue, and he'll get done during the season.

 

[upstater1]

Sure, but there are a ton of variables in all of those situations like: are those players better at their positions than Gonzo; do those players bring as much impact to the game as Gonzo; did those players have a strict line in the sand during negotiations (as Gonzo is rumored to have with the years). There clearly more than that but I’m not sure it’s as easy as Kraft isn’t willing to pony up the money. That may be part of it but I don’t think it’s the biggest reason.

They got paid higher than everyone in their position in football. There's been several record breaking deals.

 

[upstater1]

Fair point but if Gonzo/his agent are taking a different approach to asks for the contract than those player, that could have complicated those negotiations for those other teams.

And it may very well turn out that it is a 100% Kraft cheapness issue or it may be much more complex than that, at this point we just don’t have that information.

That agent has signed players with other teams, including Witherspoon.