Player Signing OFFICIAL - Gonzo signed to extension

[jimnance]

He being paid like he's the best in his position, now he needs to play that way.

That's what he's been doing since day 1.
Where have  you been?

 

[Grogan14]

Well at that point, unlike Bledsoe's 10 year contract, few QBs wanted to be locked in for 10 years at the same salary - and of course you needed that much time to get to $100 million given that top tier QBs were making $10 mill a season then.

Really funny in hindsight that as soon as Bledsoe signed that contract Brady was making his move - but again, like all the other players, you see 4 year contracts - not 10 years like Bledsoe, which was a huge outlier in length and value at the time.

It took almost 25 years to get a second 100M contract and not one of those contract extensions was for the GOAT?

Whoever said Kraft is cheap can apologize now

 

[slash83]

 

[Huckleberry1]

He got spot on what most PF posters were expecting. Slightly more than Witherspoon.

There's no reason they shouldn't have sealed this deal long ago - it will be interesting to hear later which side might have been holding this up because a contract like that isn't a shocker to anyone.

The reason it took so long was that instead of Witherspoon's guarantee by a million or so, which was how the prior deals had been made, Seattle gave him 9 million more in guaranteed $$$. The Patriots argument was that the Witherspoon contract is an outlier, which it is, and ended up splitting the difference.

I wanted Gonzalez signed, and I wanted them to pay him the most, but the Patriots had a valid argument that the Witherspoon deal wasn't representative of the overall CB market as a whole. That's why it went down to the wire.

It's the same in any sport. If owners are paying the best at a position consistent with the other best players at that position, one nutbag owner throwing absurd money at one player doesn't necessarily reset the market at that position.

 

[Milton Quagmire]

Is Schefter full of ****?! -Quags​

Schefter: Patriots considered pulling their contract offer to Christian Gonzalez​

"This was not a simple deal to get done; we heard on August 25th, Christian Gonzalez complain about the offer."​

Christian Gonzalez and the Patriots agreed to a contract extension on Tuesday. (Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff)
By Conor Ryan

Less than 48 hours before the Patriots opened their 2026 season with a primetime matchup against the Seattle Seahawks, New England and star cornerback Christian Gonzalez finally bridged the gap on a record-breaking four-year, $135 million contract extension.

It was a welcome sight for both the Patriots and Gonzalez, who is now the highest-paid cornerback in NFL history.

But according to ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter, the Patriots — inching closer and closer to the start of the regular season — nearly took that contract offer off the table after months of stalled negotiations.

“It was strained enough at one point that there were conversations in the Patriots organization in recent days about whether or not they should pull the offer,” Schefter said on his podcast with Ty Schmit on Tuesday. “This was not a simple deal to get done; we heard on August 25th, Christian Gonzalez complain about the offer.

​

“But the offer pretty much was the same until the end, when they upped the average per year and basically agreed to the deal while they were in the air.”

Based on Schefter’s reporting, something changed in short order to get these contract negotiations over the finish line — as the longtime NFL insider noted on Monday afternoon that the Patriots and Gonzalez did not show any signs of progress with the start of a new season rapidly approaching.

“These things always can change. But as of right now, talks are nowhere,” Schefter said Monday on “The Pat McAfee Show”. “Again, there always can be a last second push and there always can be something that changes. We’ll see how the two sides address it as the season’s underway.

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“But I think, as of right now, it’s hard to imagine that the two sides would be able to make up the difference to get a deal done by opening night. Again, we’ve seen crazy things happen, and I’m sure there could be another push to try to see if they could salvage it and get it done. But right now, as of yesterday, I was told it was not close.”

That late push was enough to get Gonzalez to sign on the dotted line, with the Patriots’ All-Pro corner narrowly surpassing Seattle CB Devon Witherspoon in both total contract payout ($135 million to $132 million) and guaranteed money ($102 million to $101 million).

Despite the sudden about-face between Schefter’s reporting and Gonzalez signing with New England, Schefter once again reiterated on Tuesday that circumstances shifted in short order between Gonzalez and the Patriots after arriving on the West Coast Tuesday evening.

“The Patriots’ team flight left, they decided not to pull the offer, which was the right thing to do,” Schefter added on Tuesday. “When you get this close to the season, there’s a little window for everybody to revisit it and to see where the talks go. In the end, the Patriots raised the average price per year to $33.75 million.

“That’s where the change on Monday came with the Patriots upping the average price per year to a record number to make Christian Gonzalez the highest-paid cornerback in NFL history.”​