FOXBOROUGH - As the Patriots and Christian Gonzalez continue to slog through their contract negotiations, it’s hard not to look at quarterback Drake Maye and wonder how he views that situation, especially considering he’s going to be extension-eligible next year.
Thus, after a casual walkthrough training camp practice on Wednesday, Maye stepped to the microphone prepared for the usual topics: leadership, chemistry, tempo, even trash talking. I don’t want to call that boring, but let’s say we’ve been there and done that a couple of times already this summer. Questions about his future deal, however, have never been raised…until today.
“I'm not thinking about that right now,” Maye said when asked if the holdup with Gonzalez has him wondering if he might have to wait for his extension, too. “I'm a big fan of Gonzo and kind of how things are playing out, so I respect him for being out here and competing and wanting to practice. I think that speaks a lot for him wanting to be here, and I think, like I said, he's one of the best in the league. So I'm looking forward to playing with him, and glad he's on our team.”
That’s exactly what you want Maye to say, and it’s one of the many reasons why the team is certain that he’s a franchise guy. But those cost money, and Maye is in line to earn a boatload. That may be clouding the negotiations with Gonzalez, who doesn’t appear to only want to be the highest-paid cornerback, but for him and friend Devon Witherspoon in Seattle, to push that position’s market to another level, one that isn’t just a million more than the last guy (in whatever metric you want to judge it upon).
When you plug in those sorts of demands, and the real likelihood of needing to load up A.J. Brown’s contract a year from now, the Pats are going to be in a place they’ve never been: paying three of the most important and high-priced spots at or near the top of the market. Oh sure, they did at guard (Logan Mankins) and nose tackle (Vince Wilfork) while they were paying Tom Brady, but those deals were at a significantly smaller percentage of the salary cap than these three will command.
I can tell you the organization is already planning for