The New England Patriots and Christian Gonzalez have all eyes on them as their contract extension negotiations continue to unfold in the public eye. With the Seattle Seahawks signing Devon Witherspoon to a four-year, $132 million extension on Saturday, that has set a benchmark for Gonzalez to clear in his negotiations with the Pats.
While Witherspoon’s contract talks unfolded in a fairly smooth manner with the Seahawks, the opposite is true for Gonzalez and the Patriots. The two sides have struggled to find common ground to this point, and according to a new report, the superstar cornerback is not happy with comments the team’s owner, Robert Kraft, made about the situation earlier in training camp.
Christian Gonzalez Not Happy With Robert Kraft’s Comments on Contract Talks
For much of training camp, New England and Seattle have been engaged in a staring contest with their own star cornerbacks. Both guys wanted to become the highest-paid player at their position in the league, but at some point, somebody was going to have to blink first. Making matters even more complicated was the fact that both Gonzalez and Witherspoon share the same agent, with the belief being that he was leveraging each of the teams’ offers against each other.
With Witherspoon putting pen to paper on his aforementioned deal, that leaves Gonzalez as the last man standing, giving him the opportunity to surpass Witherspoon’s deal. According to comments Kraft made earlier at training camp, though, Gonzalez has had a historic offer sitting on the table from the Patriots that would make him the highest-paid cornerback in the league, in addition to the highest-paid player in the Pats’ storied history.
While Kraft could very well be telling the truth here, there’s no doubt he had some ulterior motives with his comments, as he attempted to ratchet up the pressure on Gonzalez to sign a new deal with the team. The two sides are continuing to work towards a resolution to this situation, but it doesn’t sound like Gonzalez was particularly thrilled with Kraft’s public comments on these negotiations.
“Robert Kraft, the owner, had said publicly, ‘Hey, we offered to make him the highest-paid corner in the league.’ He didn’t take it. I don’t sense Gonzalez loved that all that much,” Jeremy Fowler of ESPN reported on “SportsCenter.”
Patriots’ Contract Negotiations With Christian Gonzalez Take Center Stage
GettyChristian Gonzalez #0 of the New England Patriots warms up prior to a game against the Miami Dolphins at Gillette Stadium.
For all intents and purposes, the Patriots and Gonzalez have seemed willing to get a deal done. When that will happen, though, is unknown. Rumors have suggested Gonzalez could wait until next offseason to finalize this contract, in an effort to make even more money than he could this year. That, of course, is a pretty big risk, and it’s unclear if that is a bluff or not.
Witherspoon’s deal getting across the finish line should open the door for New England to at least get some resolution on Gonzalez’s status over the next few weeks. Ideally, Gonzalez will be the highest-paid cornerback in the NFL by the time Week 1 arrives, but these negotiations have not been straightforward, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if another twist emerges down the line.
Christian Gonzalez Reportedly Unhappy With Key Development in Patriots Contract Talks