It has been a while since the Patriots landed on a superstar player from their picks in the NFL Draft, but that's exactly what they lucked into when cornerback Christian Gonzalez shockingly fell into their lap at No. 17 in 2023. Bill Belichick made one of the best selections of his career when he took the Oregon alum, and now the Patriots are on the brink of handing out one of their richest extensions in recent memory.
They have the option to pick up Gonzalez's fifth-year option this offseason, or they could choose to extend him instead.
The option for the cornerback is estimated to be around $18 million, but if they want to keep him around even longer and smartly avoid seeing the market skyrocket even more, they'll extend him sooner rather than later.
The latest extension proves they'll need to decide quickly, or they risk dishing out a lot more money than they probably would have.
The Patriots now know what they'll have to pay Christian Gonzalez in an extension
After the Chiefs traded Trent McDuffie to the Rams last week, LA reached an agreement on a four-year extension worth $124 million, with $100 million guaranteed. McDuffie is set to make around $31 million a year, becoming the highest-paid cornerback in the history of the NFL.
Given that Gonzalez is considered a better player at the position, the Patriots now know what they're in for to extend him this offseason, and what they could be on deck for if they wait until 2027 to do so.
Fortunately, his production over the past three years, even in the few games during his rookie season before he suffered a season-ending injury, has been impressive enough to warrant resetting the cornerback market, so hopefully, the Patriots will do just that.
We'll see if they realize that McDuffie's extension should hyperspeed their deal with their own superstar cornerback, or if they will ultimately risk holding off another year.
Because of how important Gonzalez has become for the defense, it would be far more disappointing to see them wait to give him the extension, especially if he takes it personally and decides he wants to test free agency next year. That would be an utter disaster, and they have every reason to avoid that happening by getting it done now.