I don't want to assume, but I'm somewhat confident that Christian Gonzalez' camp did a happy dance when it saw the news of New York Jets cornerback Sauce Gardner signing a four-year, $120 million contract extension.
The idea of players "setting the market" when they sign contracts might be a little overblown. Still, Gardner getting a massive contract from the Jets is, at least, a great bargaining tool for when Gonzalez and the Pats go to the bargaining table in the near future.
We've seen contract negotiations get messy between players and teams plenty of times — most recently with Terry McLaurin and the Commanders — and with lockdown cornerbacks being one of the most important positions in the game, it's always possible that things get contentious. New England can avoid any drama with Gonzalez by, when the time comes, giving that man his money.
Patriots need to give Gonzalez whatever he wants to avoid contract drama
Robert Kraft, I'm talking directly to you now. If you're not Robert Kraft, you can stop reading.
When the time comes, old man, you need to pay Christian Gonzalez whatever he asks for. It's going to be a lot of money, especially after seeing what Sauce Gardner got in New York, but it doesn't matter. Give the man his bread. Pay your employees. Make your young defensive star happy, and make the fans happy. You have more money than you could spend in 100 lifetimes. Just do it. Don't make him an enemy, don't let negotiations turn into drama.
Thank you.
Christian Gonzalez is on track to be an elite cornerback
This talk might seem premature for Gonzalez, who has just one full NFL season under his belt. But he was so good in 2024 after missing most of his rookie year because of a torn labrum that Pats fans are rightfully dreaming about how much better he can get moving forward. Recently, he was ranked the No. 84 player in the NFL. That's already too low, but after 2025, he'll about halve that ranking — and do the opposite to his contract.
Sauce Gardner is a man of the people — well, by "people," I mean other cornerbacks in the NFL, because he just gave them and their agents a leg up in all negotiations in the next few seasons. I can picture it already: "Well, Sauce Gardner got $120 million, and our guy's opposing passer rating is way better than his, so we want at least 110 percent of that! We won't take anything less!"
That's how contract negotiations go in real life, right?