The New England Patriots are still without star cornerback Christian Gonzalez at OTAs as he is holding out for a new contract. This comes after the Patriots recently picked up his fifth-year option to keep him in New England for the next two seasons, at least.
On Tuesday, Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel addressed Gonzalez’s absence. In particular, he emphasized how important it’s going to be for Gonzalez to be ready once he takes care of the business side of football.
“Well, I think that there’s, the contract is the business and the professional side of this,” Vrabel said during his press conference. “The personal side, I don’t want to let anything interfere with that. I want Christian to be ready when he comes back. And I would imagine that he would be here next week. And, if he is, then we’ll coach him and be ready to move on and get him ready and get him ready to help us, and help himself. Contracts are part of professional sports. I understand that. But I also know that those should remain private. And, like any contract, you want to make sure (it’s) a negotiation that everybody feels like they get something out of it. And I’ll leave it at that.”
As it stands right now, Gonzalez is on one of the most team-friendly contracts in the entire sport. His cap hit in 2026 is about $4.8 million and his fifth-year option in 2027 is worth around $18.1 million. Once he does sign his extension, Gonzalez is expected to reset the cornerback market.
Insider Albert Breer came up with what he thinks is a fair deal for Gonzalez. It’s a four-year, $140 million deal. That’s about $35 million annually.
New England Patriots Captain Marcus Jones Backed Up Christian Gonzalez
GettyNew England Patriots DB Christian Gonzalez
New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye recently held a charity softball game, which Christian Gonzalez attended. Also in attendance was team captain and cornerback Marcus Jones.
Jones spoke about Gonzalez’s holdout there. In the process, he made one thing very clear, the team is standing behind its star cornerback.
“We support him and the organization… I’ve been in the situation of learning how contract negotiations goes. At the end of the day they want what’s best for them and he wants what’s best for him,” Jones said.
Christian Gonzalez Shared His Reaction to the Patriots Adding A.J. Brown
GettyNew England Patriots cornerback Christian Gonzalez
If there was any concern that Christian Gonzalez is disconnected from the Patriots as a team, it hasn’t shown up yet. Certainly, he took notice of the Patriots trading for A.J. Brown before quickly sharing his reaction on Instagram.
While advertising his own charity event, Gonzalez wrote, “Perfect timing… see you this weekend teammate.”
In any case where a player is holding out, there are some major concerns about what type of tension a player has with the team. After all, business negotiations run the risk of becoming uncomfortable and personal. For now, though, that doesn’t seem to be the case for the Patriots and Gonzalez.
That doesn’t mean the Patriots don’t have to answer questions about Gonzalez’s contract situation, though. Most importantly, how much is he going to cost and when is he going to be able to sign a deal and get back on the field?
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