The New England Patriots have finally agreed to a long-term contract extension with Christian Gonzalez, making him the highest-paid cornerback in NFL history.
Talks had been ongoing throughout the offseason but he will finally put pen to paper less than 48 hours before their Super Bowl rematch with the Seattle Seahawks.
Gonzalez has agreed to terms on a four-year, $135 million contract extension which includes $102m guaranteed.
That deal surpasses the previous record for a cornerback, which was only set last month when Super Bowl champion Devon Witherspoon agreed to a four-year, $132m deal with Seattle. That also included $101m guaranteed.
An ecstatic Gonzalez posted on Instagram: ‘THANK YOU LORD! PATS NATION LETS GO!’
He has made the trip to Seattle for Wednesday night’s season opener and talks over a new deal finally intensified Monday night and got wrapped up at last.
Christian Gonzalez has finally agreed to a four-year, $135m contract with the Patriots
It had been another unwelcome distraction for scandalized Mike Vrabel ahead of the season
An ecstatic Gonzalez posted on Instagram: ‘THANK YOU LORD! PATS NATION LETS GO!’
Gonzalez was the No. 17 pick in the 2023 NFL Draft and has been an All-Pro and Pro Bowl cornerback during his three seasons in the NFL.
He was finally eligible for an extension this offseason but talks dragged on throughout the summer and just weeks ago he said he was ‘frustrated’ by a lack of movement.
Owner Robert Kraft insisted in July that he would offer Gonzalez a deal to make him the highest-paid cornerback in NFL history.
Gonzalez was still playing under the rookie deal he signed in 2023. He would have made a base salary of $2.25m this season and $18.1m in the final year in 2027.
After skipping the majority of the Patriots’ voluntary offseason program and taking it easy in mandatory minicamp, he has been practicing throughout training camp.
However, Gonzalez did miss two weeks in the middle of August with a minor injury after practicing one-on-one with new Patriots receiver A.J. Brown.
Gonzalez has played in 34 regular-season games in his career, starting all of them, and has started four playoff games. He missed the final 13 games of his rookie season after suffering a dislocated right shoulder and a torn labrum.
Last season, he also missed the first three games as he recovered from a hamstring injury he sustained in training camp.
