00:00Yesterday in the NFL, a new contract was handed out to one Browns cornerback Denzel Ward,
00:05where he got an extension on his previous contract.
00:08This contract, two years, the money that matters here, $52.3 million guaranteed.
00:14Now, you might be asking, Shyam, what the hell does that have to do with Christian Gonzalez?
00:18Well, if you kind of extrapolate that number over a four-year contract,
00:22which is presumably what Christian Gonzalez will get four or five years,
00:26you're looking at now $104 million in guaranteed money is now the floor.
00:32Previously, as Wiggy has aptly pointed out, it was Trent McDuffie at $100 million.
00:36Now, it's $104 million, and I would assume Devin Witherspoon is going to get more than that $104.
00:41You're now looking at the floor for the Christian Gonzalez contract to be about $110 million guaranteed money is my
00:48guess.
00:49The longer you wait, the more these contracts get done, the more these extensions get done,
00:55and maybe it's Gonzalez that's waiting because he's out there, he's practicing,
00:59he clearly seems to be okay with the negotiations up to this point,
01:05and so maybe he's the one waiting, but as the days go on, this contract continues to go up.
01:13What is your guess when it comes to the guaranteed money that the Patriots offered him
01:18in this offer that they say is the best that has been given to a player in his position?
01:23My assumption is it's probably right around the $100 million mark.
01:27Okay.
01:28Because...
01:29I bet it's below.
01:30You do.
01:30Oh, wow.
01:31All right.
01:31Yeah.
01:32Yeah, they probably inflated the number on the contract to make it the highest paid
01:38cornerback contract, whereas the guaranteed money is probably not more than what Trent
01:42McDuffie had or about the same.
01:43And Curtis, were you influenced, in making that decision, influenced at all by what Christian
01:49Gonzalez said yesterday, which we will get to shortly?
01:51Yes.
01:52I believe that you get to $100 million when you're trying to make the best in final.
01:56You're not there in the buildup.
01:59See, the thing I wonder, and this is why I asked the question, I haven't seen a ton of
02:05the practices, but they're saying he's out there, he's doing everything, full practice.
02:10So I'm betting that the offer's probably pretty good that they offered him, because if they
02:16went below that $100 million or if it was something that he didn't like, why would you even put
02:21yourself in that position?
02:23Yeah.
02:23I don't think they lowballed him, but I don't think that they, I think he thinks he deserves
02:27more.
02:27Yeah.
02:28Oh, no, no.
02:28I agree with that.
02:29But then he said-
02:30But I'll tell you why, Wiggs, because he wants, he knows how important the public perspective
02:35on this is, and if he's not out there day one when all the fans are watching practice right
02:41after Kraft speaks, I think it looks like he's being petulant.
02:45Right.
02:45But here's the thing I have.
02:47He wasn't out there for the minicamps, right?
02:50I mean, he was there.
02:51He was there.
02:51But he wasn't doing anything.
02:53So like-
02:54He was yogging it out occasionally.
02:55But there are no fans at minicamps.
02:56It's not the same pomp and circumstances, not the amount of eyeballs.
02:59Right, but if I'm his agent, you don't do anything for the fans, because God forbid you
03:03have something like, I mean, we've seen guys blow-
03:06You pull a hammy covering A.J. Brown, you're toast.
03:08We've seen guys blow their Achilles basically doing nothing.
03:10That's so-
03:11It's not for the fans.
03:12You're using the fans as a means to get more money, because the more public, the public
03:17sway is on Robert Kraft, the better it is for your negotiating leverage.
03:21Yeah, I look at this situation here.
03:24I think Gonzalez is a little bit, he's got to be a little bit ticked off, because I know I
03:28would be if the owner comes out and said, oh yeah, we made him the highest offer.
03:32Well, did you think he sounded ticked off yesterday?
03:35Well, I think the way he said it, it was a little bit of like-
03:39Okay, I'm interested in that.
03:40So you think that was a little bit-
03:42It was a little side-eyed, the way his response was.
03:44He was side-eyeing.
03:45Yeah, you know-
03:46He wasn't sighing, was he?
03:47No, no, no, no, no.
03:48Because we know you don't like when somebody sighs-
03:49You know how when somebody says something, you kind of look at them like-
03:52Yeah.
03:52He was respectful, though.
03:54Huh?
03:55Respectful, though.
03:56The way in which he addressed it.
03:57Yeah, it's definitely, but you could tell he was kind of lightweight shade, and I'm like,
04:01all right, man, I'm going to be respectful here, but I'm looking out-
04:03I'm side-eyeing you here, bro.
04:05All right, Cheyne, thank you.
04:06We'll get to what Christian Gonzalez said yesterday coming up.
04:09Ask, please.
04:10Well, let's hear from Christian Gonzalez.
04:12He spoke yesterday after camp and was asked about the Robert Kraft comments about the contract
04:19that Kraft claimed the Patriots have extended to Christian Gonzalez.
04:23Here was Gonzalez.
04:25Yeah, I mean, everybody knows what Mr. Kraft has done.
04:28A ton of respect for Mr. Kraft and what he's done with this franchise.
04:31And, you know, it's just something we don't want to handle to the media.
04:36You know, I keep that with the team and my team and go on about that.
04:41There you go.
04:42Something we don't want to handle in the media, but I'm having to talk about it because the
04:47owner made it public for the media.
04:50So you said earlier that you feel like that was a side-eye comment and that he is frustrated
04:56with Robert Kraft for doing that?
04:58I would, yeah.
04:58I mean, isn't that, isn't that, if you look at it from the other side, Robert Kraft playing
05:04chess and saying in your, playing pickleball and saying it's now in your kitchen.
05:09Yeah.
05:10Smart move by Kraft.
05:12Smart move by him.
05:13Yeah.
05:13Because now all the, well, pay that man, pay that man, pay that man, that everybody was
05:19kind of going after Kraft about, now it's, well, Christian, what are you doing?
05:24Robert just said he was going to make you the highest paid player in Patriots history and
05:28at your position.
05:29So all of the goodwill now has gone to Robert Kraft.
05:32So that's a smart move for him.
05:34But on the side of, from Christian's probably standpoint, he's probably like, really?
05:39You know, because he knows it's going to look bad on him because he already knows how people
05:43think.
05:43I do think he handled it perfectly though.
05:45Like side-eye or not, I think the way in which he responded to the question was respectful
05:49of the Krafts, giving, you know, respect to the entire organization, but also saying how
05:54he feels.
05:55Right.
05:55I thought that it was like politically correct.
05:57It was a perfect response.
05:58Smart move by him.
05:59Yes.
06:00You know, and that's what you have to do in those situations.
06:02Like you understand, you know where you're at.
06:05And I think in those situations, you have to do that because at the end of the day, you
06:08never want to burn any bridges.
06:10And you know, right now it's just, it's just like to Greg's point, it's a game of chess
06:13and we're going back and forth.
06:15But once it all gets done, everybody's, you know, hugging and smiling and lighting up a
06:19cigar and opening up the champagne bar.
06:21So, sorry, real quick.
06:23The agent is running everything.
06:25Is he waiting for the Witherspoon deal to be done?
06:27He could be.
06:28Yeah, he could be.
06:29Is that what your guess is?
06:29Yeah.
06:29I mean, I would think that would be it because then, you know, whatever Witherspoon is going
06:34to get, then he can go a little bit above that.
06:37Go ahead, Curtis.
06:38Sorry.
06:40Doesn't Gonzalez not really have a leg to stand on about the public discussion when he was
06:44the one at the Celtics game doing the cash single?
06:46Yes.
06:47Yeah.
06:47So like you can't sit back and say, I'd rather this be remain between us when you're on the
06:53jumbotron in front of thousands of people and you're doing that.
06:56So clearly you're saying that you're not getting paid and you're trying to put an onus on the
07:01organization.
07:01And I think it's fair for Kraft to do what he did.
07:03If I were advising Gonzalez, I would have just said to all of you that are here today, thank
07:08you.
07:08And the next time you see Robert Kraft, just please ask him instead of what the total is,
07:12just ask him what the guaranteed money is because that's the really important part of it.
07:15It has to be down to, and this sounds like, I mean, this is not relatable to any of the
07:22rest of us, but it has to be down to just, you know, a couple million dollars and the
07:27difference because otherwise he wouldn't be out there.
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