The Patriots enter a new stage of training camp when the pads come on later this week, and that step forward may bring more time off for All-Pro cornerback Christian Gonzalez, who remains in talks with team brass over his contract.
Players have a mandatory day off on Wednesday and the door opens for all the tackling and hitting they want. So, how much does Gonzalez want to participate with hundreds of millions of dollars potentially hanging in the balance?
The fourth-year star suffered a hamstring injury on the first day of padded practices last summer, but said that sort of risk doesn’t relate to how he’ll approach the next chapter of summer.
“No football player ever thinks of, ‘I'm gonna’ come out here and get injured.’ You don't think like that. You don't. It's football. It was a hammy. It was it was a year ago. Things happen, and I'm out here now getting ready for this season,” Gonzalez said.
That’s the attitude fans want to hear, and through training camp thus far, Gonzalez has been a full participant. But the risk calculus has to change when pads come on. He didn’t fully commit to total participation, only stating, “I’ll be out here,” even when pressed as to whether he’d be in team competitive portions in particular.
“These are my guys,” he said, about his participation so far. “It's hard to sit and just watch. I like to be out on the field. It's what I love to do.”
Gonzalez has repeatedly sidestepped direct, (and even less direct), questions about his negotiations, voicing his desire to keep talks between his representation and the Patriots, rather than airing it all out to the media. He even said as much Tuesday: "It’s just something we don’t want to handle in the media." But when owner Robert Kraft opened camp by telling a scrum of reporters they had offered the corner the highest contract in club history at a market-setting number, he put him in a position where now ownership’s side of money talk is apparently out in the open. Gonzalez may be caught in a holding pattern waiting out his good friend Devon Witherspoon, as their mutual agent is concurrently negotiating his money in Seattle, at the same position.
Gonzalez has two years left on his rookie contract, which would pay him $2.3 million in 2026, then $18.1 million in 2027.
It’s hard to blame one party as being the stubborn roadblock without ownership’s offer details. Does the “highest-paid” cornerback line refer to money-per-year, guaranteed cash, or both? For many athletes, it’s the latter number that counts the most. And if Gonzalez wants to see what Witherspoon receives in order to counter that offer, that’s a fine look, given his talent level. Just ask A.J. Brown, who’s faced coverage from him through camp and called him, “a stud.” Watch last year’s Super Bowl film. His value is apparent.
Gonzalez has – at least publicly – played ball with leadership from the front office to the coaching staff by ramping up his participation in training camp. The jump in the level of his involvement should signal the two sides are in a friendly-enough position. Kraft walked over an spoke with Gonzalez during part of practice.
Make no mistake, however – the clock started ticking in the realm of public opinion when Kraft said what he said, and while it’s still far from midnight, the hour hand has moved.
