00:00Sides, Christian Gonzalez and the Patriots remain far apart, but they are talking as we are now nine days from
00:06the regular season opener at Seattle.
00:09Again, three-year deal, four-year deal. He says it's going to be a four-year deal added on to
00:13the two that he has.
00:15The sticking point says Mike Florio have to do with structure and total dollars.
00:18You don't say. Structure meaning the real money and when it gets paid. That is obvious.
00:24Yes. And Florio says there, to the extent Gonzalez's recent absence from practice was motivated by a lack of a
00:33deal,
00:33there's always a chance he'll be injured in air quotes again as week one approaches.
00:39And I cut it out of the sound there, but he wrote it.
00:42The Patriots threw a similar situation six years ago, he said, when reigning defensive player of the year,
00:47Stephon Gilmore, made it clear shortly before the regular season opener that he wouldn't play without a new deal.
00:52He eventually got a $5 million bump on his pay for the 2020 season, just days before the first game
00:57and then played.
00:58Let me tell you, I've heard this before. Let me tell you why this is not analogous.
01:01This is not, this really doesn't apply.
01:04Stephon Gilmore was 29, 28, 29, 30.
01:08He was on his, maybe his third contract by then.
01:13So he was not coming off his rookie deal, not willing to make that big market setting deal on the
01:19second go around.
01:19He would, he had already gone through that and was now on his third contract.
01:23And I don't want to say hanging on, but he was in that stage of his career where he was
01:28trying to tack on more years to his prime.
01:31It's a, it's just a different spot.
01:33Also, all the Pats did was move money forward from money.
01:39He was owed the next season.
01:41So they took 5 million from 2021 and put it into 2020.
01:45And then when 2020 was over, he just left.
01:48And that's what they did.
01:50That's really not happening here.
01:52I don't think because, well, I think the Patriots looked at Steph Gilmore and said, we're not going to resign
02:00you to another contract anyway.
02:02You're gone anyway.
02:03So we'll just move it forward and we'll all be on our way.
