Patriots Prepared to Make Christian Gonzalez Franchise History With New Deal
The New England Patriots and star cornerback Christian Gonzalez have been in consistent contract talks over the last few months, which have ramped up another notch.
Patriots owner Robert Kraft revealed that the team is prepared to offer him the highest-paid contract in franchise history.
“We love Christian Gonzalez. We love him as a player, as a person, and that’s why we’ve made an offer to him to make him the highest-paid player to ever play that position in the NFL,” Kraft said Saturday morning before the team’s first practice of training camp via ESPN. “And coincidentally, it is the highest contract in Patriots franchise history. So we’re glad we drafted him, he’s developed here, and we hope he’ll be with us for a long time.”
Long-term contracts for cornerbacks around the league have reached beyond $30 million per season, as the Los Angeles Rams set the market earlier this offseason after trading for All-Pro Trent McDuffie and signing him to a four-year, $124 million deal in March.
The Cleveland Browns just raised that bar to another level after agreeing to a two-year, $62.2 million extension with star cornerback Denzel Ward, which made him the highest-paid defensive back in the league for the second time.
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Ward’s new deal likely adds another wrinkle to negotiations for the Patriots, meaning sweetening the offer to Gonzalez. In his first three seasons in the league, he has established himself as one of the top cornerbacks while earning a Second-Team All-Pro nod (2024) and his first Pro Bowl selection this past season.
