Is Gonzo Donezo? - New England Connector

I know, great pun.

But seriously, What is going on?

The NFL regular season is a little over a week away. The New England Patriots are poised to make another run for their seventh Lombardi in franchise history. Three years ago, not a single Patriots fan would have believed a turnaround of this magnitude. But we’re here. We did it. Mostly Robert Kraft, Eliot Wolf (no seriously), Mike Vrabel, and Drake Maye, but hey, we were there too. Through the draft, not holding on to bad mistakes like hiring a 1st time head coach with no real experience, and getting lucky with picking third in a QB loaded draft and still somehow probably getting the best guy, we’ve had a miraculous U-Turn. In a year where the team by all measurements blew through the glass ceiling of expectations with seemingly a rocket strapped to their backs, we reached the mountain top colliding with the behemoth Seahawks in the Super Bowl and allowed them to plant the flag first. No shame, I’ll say it … We were lucky to even be there. Yet, there was a shining light in that trouncing when we lost 29-13 in a game that was never in our grasps. Christian Gonzalez.

Not our 2nd year, MVP candidate, NFL all-American poster boy Drake Maye who played like dog water. (albeit possibly hurt). No, it was our third year, 15th overall pick from the 2023 draft. A quiet kid from Oregon, touted as the real deal straight out of school. A little skinny, but agile and real ballhawk. A shutdown corner the likes Patriots fans are all too familiar with going all the way back to our initial super bowl runs in the early 2000’s – Ty Law, Asante Samuel, Aqib Talib, Darrelle Revis, Malcolm Butler, Stephon Gilmore, and many more. Now there’s Christian Gonzalez. #28 on this year’s NFL Top 100 players voted on by the players. The universal respect is there. He is by the word of everybody that watches the game, overanalyzes, or just complains about it, a TOP 3 CB. If you’re not biased, he’s #1.

Now its his turn to get paid. So why hasn’t it happened yet?

For starters, he’s not due for an extension till next year. Another, we are possibly the most successful cheap organization in American professional sports. Contract disputes are nothing new to Chairman and CEO, Robert Kraft. He likes to drag things out. I also believe it’s becoming clear that Robert Kraft for years let Bill Belichick take the hits on what understandably was a Collective Cheapness. He is a businessman, and he knows how to stay in business with the success of the New England Patriots under his leadership, something that sooner than later will be immortalized in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. But this has never been simpler for everyone involved. He should be the highest paid CB in the NFL. I think both sides believe that, but what does highest really mean to each side?

Devon Witherspoon of the Seattle Seahawks just set the CB market with a 4-year $132 million extension with $101 million guaranteed. Represented by Reggie Johnson of WIN Sports Group – the same agent as Christian Gonzales. The plan was obvious. Devon sets the market, so Christian can follow suit. So, what’s the hold up? Is it the guaranteed money, with questions of durability with his missed time his rookie year and a few games last year. It’s possible. There’s a rumor circulating that Gonzalez wants a percentage of the cap space, not a fixed number, but variable that increases with the NFL cap increase. Personally, I think that’s a ridiculous ask if it’s true, but there’s no merit to those rumors. There are also whispers he’s not asking to be seen as a Corner Back, but a great Defensive player to be compared with the likes of Myles Garret and Jalen Carter. Sorry defensive lines makes more, it’s just how it is. But if all he really wants is to reset the CB market and get a good guarantee, well, he has earned that. Don’t allow him to get frustrated and force a trade.

The Patriots sniffed greatness again but fell short. They revamped, brought in a premier #1 receiver for Maye in A.J. Brown, reset the offensive line, and shored up their defense (even though the depth at DE is concerning.) But now they’re letting a contract extension drag and ruin the buildup to game one against the team that took your ring away in February. I hate you for doing that NFL, you couldn’t have let that matchup take place any other week. You had to start, how you finished? Bad story telling.

You have a chance to win it all. Three years ago, we never thought we’d see the mountain top again. But we didn’t plant the flag and now we feel like we deserve to run it back. That’s New England for ya. Don’t let this go on. Pay the man and hang another banner.