Christian Gonzalez is about to get paid, and he earned it.
The Patriots cornerback started off the year on a sour note: he suffered a hamstring injury in training camp that sidelined him for the first three games of the season. But he was the perfect example of a player who gained momentum as the season progressed, and he capped off a stellar performance in the playoffs by breaking up three passes in an otherwise dour Super Bowl 60 showing by the Patriots.
Head coach Mike Vrabel noticed Gonzalez’s growth late in the season.
“There's just a presence, I feel like. And again, not that there was anything was wrong. I just felt him,” Vrabel said in late January. “I just felt when he blitzed, when he covered, when he – maybe it was just me, but I’ve got a pretty good seat for some of these games. And so, I just felt him start to continue to impact at a greater level.”
Gonzalez looks more physical in his play than ever before. He finished this regular season with a career-low completion percentage with him in coverage, (53.6%), and a career-high in tackles, (69), despite appearing in just 14 games.
In four playoff games, Gonzalez tallied a 40% completion percentage when targeted, allowed opposing passers a measly 43 average rating, a sack, and had a critical interception in the AFC Championship game in Denver. These stats weren’t against any slouches at wide receiver: in Seattle, Gonzalez split his coverage among Jaxon Smith-Njigma, Cooper Kupp, and Rashid Shaheed. He was targeted eight times and finished the game with a 37.5% completion rate. His frame-worthy pass break-up on Shaheed in the game's first quarter is evidence alone of his talent.
Now, New England’s front office faces a decision regarding their 2023 17th overall pick. This coming year, (2026), will be the final of Gonzalez’s rookie contract. The team can either exercise the fifth-year option on his deal, making him a free agent in 2028, or extend him this offseason. He’s expressed his desire to stay with the franchise who drafted him.
Exercising the Pro Bowler’s option would pay him $17.95 million in 2027, (OvertheCap cites the price tag at $11.97 million but does not account for his 2025 Pro Bowl honors). It would also really piss Gonzalez off and kick the can down the road – where it will grow into a pricier can.
The only conceivable reason the Patriots wouldn’t extend him this offseason would be injury concerns. As previously mentioned, he missed three games this year, a game last year, and missed most of his rookie season while injured.
Gonzalez has proven his toughness through these last 18 games. It would also behoove the Patriots to lock him down now, while quarterback Drake Maye is on a rookie deal. That way, their contracts will stagger for at least one year, as Maye will sit in the catbird seat next offseason.
There’s no getting around the price tag on a 24-year-old star cornerback, but the Patriots are fortunate to find themselves in this position after spending the better part of a decade whiffing in the draft. So, how much will Gonzalez make?
He’s likely to reset the market at the position. Sauce Gardner has the richest contract, in both total value and AAV, at $120.4 million, ($30.1 million per year), and more than $85 million total gauranteed. If Gonzalez cares more about guaranteed money, he may look at Derek Stingley Jr., who has the most total guaranteed money worked into his deal, at over $89 million. Both contracts got done last year.
The Patriots should be prepared to pay more for Gonzalez. The good news is they can afford it: New England has the 11th-most cap space in 2026, at over $42 million. They also have fellow cornerbacks Carlton Davis III and Marcus Jones under team control, so the room should allow for the expense.
The Super Bowl didn’t go the Patriots way, but it made this much crystal clear: Gonzalez should be here to stay.