FOXBOROUGH - Had Christian Gonzalez chosen not to practice this summer until (if?) his contract extension is completed, it would have been hard to blame him. This addendum - allowing drafted players to be extension eligible after their third season - was collectively bargained for in the last agreement between the league and the players' association.
Gonzalez has chosen a different approach, one that is endearing him to his teammates. Well, except for maybe one. He has been full-go from the outset of training camp, and once again, his one-on-one matchup with A.J. Brown got heated even more so than what we witnessed on Monday. In fact, at one point, Kayshon Boutte felt the need to step between the two after hearing the phrase “grown man,” believing there was a risk of escalation.
“It’s good on good,” Gonzalez said post-practice. “He’s a No. 1 receiver in this league going up against a No. 1 corner. That’s how it’s gonna go. It’s football at the end of the day. There’s never no disrespect or anything.
“We just battling and getting each other better. He’s gonna face corners like that that are gonna gonna yap at him, gonna try to get in his head, and I’m gonna face receivers like that that are strong and come right back at me. So it’s great work for both of us.”
There may not be disrespect, but there’s been an intensity and physicality to their battles that’s gotten to the point where you can’t take your eyes off them, even if the ball goes elsewhere. Gonzalez had solid coverage on Brown during the first team period, and while Brown may have had a half step, Drake Maye’s throw was errant.
Later, during 2-on-2 red zone work, Gonzalez shadowed Brown as he ran a corner route and ended up with a fingertip PBU on a ball that Maye probably could have had a little more arc on.
“He not gonna forget me,” Gonzalez said of his post-play finger pointing at one of the social media coordinators, not, as some reported, at Brown.
Lastly, in the final team period, Brown caught on a comeback with the fourth-year corner draped all over him, and it appeared there were some words exchanged there as well.
“It’s the dog days of camp. It’s starting to - it’s still hot,” Gonzalez said. “About to start getting into joint (practices), and now we’re really into camp. So I mean, of course tempers are going to flare. Everybody’s hot and wants to be the best. So for sure.”
Meanwhile, it’s hard not to watch this competition and wonder what is taking so long with the contract extension. I asked Gonzalez if he is growing frustrated that a deal hasn’t been reached despite another week having passed. His response was predictable.
“I’m not gonna get into that with the media; let my team handle that, and my team and the front office get with that and figure it out,” he said.
But the more I have learned about the situation, the more it has become clear that Gonzalez and his friend, Seattle’s Devon Witherspoon, aren’t just looking to be the highest-paid players at the position by a shade more than the last guy. No, there is a desire to reset the market.
Here’s Witherspoon talking about his situation on the first episode of ‘Hard Knocks,’ which ran earlier this week:
“Outside of the quarterback room, we’ve got the hardest position on the field,” Witherspoon said. “It’s hard to guard these guys, especially when you can’t touch them past 5 yards. I mean, like, these guys are real talented, man. It’s just a hard job to play.
“So when you’ve got a guy who can really shut down a receiver or just can be versatile like I am, you don’t come across those guys often, for real. So when you’ve got a premier corner like that, it’s just, you pay him. Like, please pay him. That’s all we saying.”
So I asked Gonzalez something along those same lines, about how - for instance - the wide receiver market has exploded (see Zay Flowers’ contract, for instance) and has crept into the low $40 million range and yet corners are still in the low 30s.
“We got a pretty tough job, if I would say so,” he said in his understated way. “I'm not going to get into numbers, but we got a tough job, and we got to guard those guys that know where they're going, and we're going backward. So yeah….”
There have been a number of players from Gonzalez’s draft class who have already gotten their megabuck extensions. In fact, the aforementioned Flowers, tackle Darnell Wright (Chicago), and Bijan Robinson (Atlanta) all have gotten their deals done this week. Based on their bodies of work through the first three years of their career, they all deserve it, as do the others who got extended: Will Anderson, Jalen Carter, Jack Campbell, and Jaxon Smith-Njigba. Gonzalez will eventually join them, be it here - and Mike Vrabel and Eliot Wolf have continued to insist they want to get this done - or, if it comes to this, somewhere else. In the meantime, no hard feelings for the newly rich.
“I’m happy for them,” Gonzalez said of his classmates. “They got what they deserved, and I’m excited for them to continue to do what they do for their team. They’re great players in this league, and I’m happy for them.”
NO MOVEMENT
Kayshon Boutte’s great start to training camp has tailed off a bit - he had multiple drops on Monday and another on Tuesday - but he’s still been a factor in the passing game and usually is good for at least one contested catch per day. Considering the uncertainty that surrounds his status - I reported last week he wants a trade and the team is not opposed to that idea - the fourth-year wideout has remained professional on and off the field.
“I come in every day ready to work,” Boutte said when I asked how he’s remained upbeat. “It’s another opportunity. You could be without a job. I mean, I get to wake up every day at 7 a.m., come here, do what I do, make plays. That’s my life.”
Boutte’s on-field chemistry with Maye is notable, and the quarterback is clearly a fan.
“I think just the way Kayshon is approaching it, man,” he said. “He’s here now. He’s where his feet are at, and I’m having fun throwing it to him out there in practice. He’s doing a great job, and he makes plays when the football’s in the air. And I think he can speak for that, and that speaks for itself.”
But remaining in New England means fewer opportunities than he would like, barring injury, which is why he asked out in the first place. Boutte has gotten some reps with the ones, but not nearly to the same level that Brown, Romeo Doubs or Pop Douglas have (that’s your most utilized three-receiver set through camp by a long shot). He told us he believes there’s a role for him here, but added, “Ultimately, it’s whatever’s best for me. Whether it’s here, or somewhere else, I gotta do what’s best for me.”
Does he have an idea of what’s best?
“I can’t really say today,” Boutte added. “I gotta see how things play out. I’m taking it day by day. I’m not a future teller, so I can’t tell you.”