Player Signing OFFICIAL - Gonzo signed to extension

[Sect140]

How did this happen? The national and local media have been saying for a week the sides aren’t close and the Pats are being cheap, this includes Schefter and of course the usual suspects on here believing every word of it.

My hats off to Gonzo for the way he conducted himself through the summer.

 

[JayNM]

I was incorrect, Ross pointed out good.

This has a nice breakdown:

Inside the Christian Gonzalez deal

Here's the full breakdown of the new deal between the Patriots and their top corner.

www.nbcsports.com

 

[Sect140]

So just for clarity's sake, the sky is no longer falling?

Just wait until they have to punt in tomorrow nights game.

 

[1960Pats]

BUT KRAFT NEVER PAYS WAAAAAHHHHH

Never say never.

I was ready for anything but I'm tickled pink to see this kid stay here.

 

[BUSTAMOVE]

I agree it's a good number. It makes him the highest paid for a minute, and from what I can tell, doesn't include an exotic clause like "must be worth X% of Pats payroll" or whatever the rumors were claiming. Of course all eyes are on what we don't know, in terms of contract details.

In the other thread, the "cheap" complaint was about undifferentiated dollars spent, by which metric we're near or at the bottom of the league.

So if other teams took 10M and wiped their butts with it, that would make them 10M smarter for "spending more," which explains NE's terrible results (just 6 super bowl victories and 9 SB appearances in ~20 years).

I also see some guy saying that we were cheap under BB and now we're not. But we led the league in cap space left last year, the exact year we returned to the SB. (Of course, it was a matter of pushing money forward -- Hey, look, it came the year we paid Gonzo! Quelle surprise! I don't know about the magic "Cash spent" metric)

If we keep getting our guy, if we keep going to (and I hope soon winning) Super Bowls, I really don't care who cobbles together another "inept [or "cheap"] Patriots front office" opinion.

The fact is that the Pats are the class of the league at team building. There are lots of opinions out there that '25 was a fluke. I think we're back. And it's good to have Gonzo with us, at a basically Witherspoonian price.

One more thing:

"Oh man Kraft must have really been over a barrel to pay two days before the opener"? Why? Why not "Gonzo must have really been over a barrel," or just "Oh man, this was overhyped and they sure did play chicken for a while before signing."

Shoot, maybe it was "Neither side shall disclose the terms of the deal until 36 hours before the opening game." That would guarantee that Patriots football get an engagement bump while the extension is negotiated.

How many times on these large contracts on other teams players. Where we thought we might have a shot because the contract was at an impasse to be signed in the 11th hour. Gonzo did not want to start the year without a contract. The Patriots wanted to lock him up. Until the 11th hour you can stay firm. Once it hits you both come to the middle a bit and finalize it. It’s called negotiations.

No Gonzo wasn’t a greedy *****. No Kraft is not cheap. All that is social media drama that a lot on this site are saturated in.

 

[Ross12]

I was incorrect, Ross pointed out good.

This has a nice breakdown:

Inside the Christian Gonzalez deal

Here's the full breakdown of the new deal between the Patriots and their top corner.

www.nbcsports.com

The 2030 and 2031 salaries of $24M and $31M respectively which are not guaranteed almost whatsoever, now or in the future, will almost certainly be a renegotiation point in the future and for all intents and purposes should be considered "fake years". While he will still be "under contract", he will not want to play those years for no guarantees. He will likely want another raise if his standard of play continues and will want more guaranteed money. So he is good through 2029 but will either need another big deal and a raise before the 2030 season or will end up traded at/around that time. He will be around 28 years old then, so still in his prime and ripe for one more big contract.

 

[1960Pats]

I predict 80% of PF posters will be butthurt because either Gonzo got too much or he didn’t get enough. And fifty to sixty pages of vitriolic text will be posted about it by game time. It’s just the nature of the beast. That’s what makes it so entertaining. Best thing to watch this side of a dumpster fire.

The endless back and forth with some fans in threads here are anything but entertaining.

Any Pats fan should be happy today. Players like Gonzo don't grow on trees.

All we need to do now is enjoy him in a Pats uni.

 

[Huckleberry1]

My question is why did this take so long? It was the contract everyone thought he would get. What was the hold up?

I think we finally got some clarity on this a couple of days ago. According to Curran and a couple of others before Witherspoon signed the new CB contracts we're growing by 1-2 million in guaranteed money, Witherspoon's deal increased it by 8-9 million, which was a big bump. The Patriots were probably trying to treat Witherspoon's guaranteed money like an outlier, and the back and forth was about that figure, with the Patriotsceventually giving in to it.

 

[TommyD4207]

This is the story (other than having your draft pick homegrown all-pro CB on the team until his 30s).
Changes the narrative through the league (assuming the structure is somewhat normal), in the end, no one will remember the ****ing around, and in the end it doesn't matter. Do the right thing with Maye next year, and everyone will notice. That was my main concern. Let's hope the agent does a little glazing in the coming days.

 

[RobertWeathers]

The 2030 and 2031 salaries of $24M and $31M respectively which are not guaranteed almost whatsoever, now or in the future, will almost certainly be a renegotiation point in the future and for all intents and purposes should be considered "fake years". While he will still be "under contract", he will not want to play those years for no guarantees. He will likely want another raise if his standard of play continues and will want more guaranteed money. So he is good through 2029 but will either need another big deal and a raise before the 2030 season or will end up traded at/around that time. He will be around 28 years old then, so still in his prime and ripe for one more big contract.

Based on the breakdown both sides did OK.

Gonzo is getting a ton of dough and has another shot at another big FA pay day.

The Pats have "manageable" guarantees, can play with the cap hits in future years, "outs" if they choose them and a happy player.

 

[BUSTAMOVE]

How did this happen? The national and local media have been saying for a week the sides aren’t close and the Pats are being cheap, this includes Schefter and of course the usual suspects on here believing every word of it.

My hats off to Gonzo for the way he conducted himself through the summer.

I trust Reiss and Guregian only. All the others are elbowing each other to report something first. Although Schefter is usually right and trusted by alot of agents he gets some sad ass scoops. Someone was feeding him his false BS, but it wasn’t a good source. The old reporters would have waited for a trusted source. This modern reporting is trash. Some of them get their scoop’s from Reddit.
Yes I have high respect for Gonzo. He leads by example. This will go along way with how players should conduct themselves on this team with future negotiations

 

[TommyD4207]

So it's a regular extension for a first round pick.

I really wonder what the hold up was;

 

[patfanken]

He is signed thru 2031 season.

• 2026 Season: 4th year of original rookie deal
• 2027 Season: 5th-year option (exercised in spring 2026)
• 2028 Season: Extension Year 1
• 2029 Season: Extension Year 2
• 2030 Season: Extension Year 3
• 2031 Season: Extension Year 4

Then he will be 30 when the contract ends which corresponds approximately to the end of his ELITE years as a CB. Then it will be a great time to either trade him for big returns or resign him to a middle of the road contract more suitable to a good, but not great CB

 

[1960Pats]

Concessions at Gillette are going up.

$17.00 for an Italian sausage with peppers and onions is highway robbery.

Back when I was going to games I used to use the Smerlis tailgate party across the street. It came with a lot of food and quite a few drinks at a decent price. Plus, in the earlier years, we'd get our own lane heading south after the game.

 

[1960Pats]

So just for clarity's sake, the sky is no longer falling?

It's not falling but for some here it's still a little cloudy. For me it's a bright, sunny day.

 

[Milton Quagmire]

Concessions at Gillette are going up.

$17.00 for an Italian sausage with peppers and onions is highway robbery.

Nah, compared to the price at Fenway and Boston Garden, the Gillette Italian Sausage with peppers and onions is right on par. After all, it is the best sausage and deserves to be treated as such! (Until the next great-tasting sausage comes along)

 

[Hyped]

@upstater1 @Vindicate ,

The other thread got locked.

And I think we all were essentially saying the same thing: We need middle class players, we need to draft well, and we should not overpay middle class guys (relative to big money deals).

 

[Milton Quagmire]

I read somewhere that in relation to cap percentage, Gonzo is still making a shade less than Stephon Gilmore made when he originally signed with the Pats from Buffalo. Shows how much BB (then) and the Pats now value a great CB. Gonzo shuts down half the field and makes the D easier for everyone.