Patriots’ contract to Gonzalez needs to be ‘buttoned up’

On the first day of Patriots training camp, team owner Robert Kraft raised a few eyebrows when it came to New England’s ongoing contract negotiations with star cornerback Christian Gonzalez.

“We love Christian,” Kraft said. “We love him as a player, as a person. That’s why we’ve made an offer to him that makes him the highest-paid player to ever play that position in the NFL, and coincidentally, it’s the highest contract in Patriots franchise history.”

Over a month later, the Patriots and Gonzalez have yet to bridge the gap on a new contract — even after Seattle CB Devon Witherspoon seemingly reset the market by inking a four-year, $132 million deal last month.​

A record-setting deal for Gonzalez seems inevitable, but ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reported that the actual language of the contract — be it guaranteed money, signing bonuses, or other details — needs to be tweaked before these months-long negotiations come to a close.

“My understanding of this situation is that if Gonzalez were to sign a market-setting deal — and it will need to be just that — then it has to be buttoned up,” Fowler wrote on Wednesday. “And the sides are not close on several elements of the deal.​

“It’s worth noting New England hasn’t executed many recent top-line extensions from which to draw. Rob Gronkowski’s six-year, $54 million extension in 2012 was the highest for a tight end at the time but was considered team friendly due to the number of years. Tom Brady was famously underpaid. New England has spent big on free agents but not necessarily on many market-resetting extensions. Gonzalez, who as of now does not plan to negotiate during the season, is testing that in a big way.”

Fowler’s comments about issues with the contract language in Gonzalez’s proposed deal fall in line with what the Patriots corner’s trainer, Christian White, discussed during an interview on 98.5 The Sports Hub’s “Felger & Mazz” on Monday.

“It was true at the time, but it’s just not all the way true,” White said of Kraft’s comments about New England’s offer to Gonzalez. “Like, the context is like, yeah, we did offer you to be the highest paid, but contract language was kind of trash. So, we kind of had to sort through that stuff to make it make sense.”

The Patriots’ runway toward hammering out a new deal with Gonzalez is getting shorter and shorter, especially if the 24-year-old defensive back doesn’t want to negotiate a deal once the regular season gets underway on Sept. 9 against Seattle. ​

Gonzalez, whose fifth-year option was picked up by New England earlier this spring, is officially under contract with New England for both the upcoming 2026 and 2027 seasons.  

New England exercising that fifth-year option secured a solid pay bump for Gonzalez, whose cap hit will jump from $4.8 million to $18.1 million in 2027.  But, Gonzalez is looking for an even larger payout now that he’s eligible to sign an extension — especially coming off of a dominant postseason run with New England.

​“It’s frustrating, but I’m focused on the season,” Gonzalez said in his last meeting with the media about the lack of results on contract talks. “I’m focused on here now and doing what I’ve got to do. I’m out here to compete and get better.”

 

Conor Ryan is a staff writer covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox for Boston.com, a role he has held since 2023.