One might imagine that with the Mike Vrabel — er — distraction being mostly over, it would be smooth sailing as the SS Patriot gets underway in the quest to prove that the 2025 season was no fluke.
Yet on just the second day of organized team activities in Foxboro, it became clear that this year’s team will have to conquer several mountainous challenges — and that’s before even getting to the gauntlet of a regular-season schedule that looms in September.
•The Christian Gonzalez Situation
Cornerback Christian Gonzalez proved last year that he is worthy of being considered a top-three player at his position in the entire world. As such, there aren’t many people who believe he’ll suit up and play in 2026 at the $2.8 million base salary his rookie contract calls for.
The question is what Vrabel, Eliot Wolf, Ryan Cowden and — most importantly of all — Robert Kraft believe he should be making this year and beyond.
And while that is a situation that very well could and should be resolved before training camp opens this summer, Gonzalez’s absence from Tuesday’s OTA session sent an early message that the 23-year-old isn’t in a rush to risk any sort of injury until he has secured the payday he politely requested while sitting courtside at TD Garden back in March.
With Derek Stingley Jr. making $30 million per year and Sauce Gardner making $30.1 million, that has to be the starting point for Gonzalez’s side in negotiations.
Will the Patriots play ball and pay market value for an elite player at a premium position, or will they argue that with the fifth-year option locked in at $18.12 million in 2027, a long-term extension has to come with a discount to account for the contracted years of 2026 and 2027?
One bit of commentary on the matter from the decision-making syndicate in Foxboro, worth recalling, came from Wolf back before the draft.
“No Gonzalez update other than I’ll continue to publicly say that we want Christian here,” Wolf said in April. “And again, he’s under contract, so we would expect that.”
He’s under contract. So we would expect that.
Many (or even most) NFL teams recognize the reality that first-round picks who become elite players in three years will get their big-money extensions as soon as they are eligible to receive them. And that’s really the crux of the matter, determining whether this new era of Patriot football will pay its home-grown players at the very top of the market. With Bill Belichick obviously no longer around to stand front and center to absorb any and all blame if the Patriots are hesitant to open up the vault for a player who very clearly deserves a massive payday, someone is going to have to wear the decision if the team refuses to negotiate to Gonzalez’s satisfaction this spring and summer.
The whole situation also serves as a bit of an eye-opener for next year, when Drake Maye becomes eligible for his big-money extension. With quarterback salaries skyrocketing at a seemingly infinite rate, the Patriots aren’t going to want to mess around with that one. Right?
Proposed Solution: Pay him. It really is that simple. And, if for whatever reason it becomes a problem in the short-term or long-term future, the Patriots could still trade him. Gardner got moved at the deadline last year for two first-round picks and a player. That’s how valuable these guys are. The Patriots have to pay Gonzalez. There’s not much wiggle room.
•The A.J. Brown Situation
Speaking of paying market value for an elite player at a premium position, the Patriots apparently have had no issue picking up A.J. Brown‘s contract, but are now apparently a bit gun-shy to fling away a first-round pick in order to land him.
That’s at least the report that NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport put out Wednesday night, just as everybody and their mother was certain that the Eagles and Patriots were merely counting down the minutes until June 1 to execute their long-ago-agreed-upon deal.
“I just don’t know that it’s going to be like snap your fingers and the deal is done,” Rapoport said, adding that the Patriots aren’t willing to give up a first-round pick “as of right now.”
“That means they’re not particularly close, and yeah, there’s a chance this could drag on for the foreseeable future,” he added.
With all due respect: WHAT?!
The A.J. Brown Trade Discourse is about to enter its sixth month. It’s starting to crawl and say “dada.” The list of interested takers has been short. The Rams dabbled. The Jaguars were briefly rumored. Some folks idly speculated about the Chiefs or Chargers getting involved.
But really, from the start until now, it’s been about the Patriots and Eagles. And with Brown not bothering to show up for OTAs in Philly, Howie Roseman and everyone else involved with the Eagles know that the player has to be moved.
All of which leads the rational person to believe that this latest report is
