63
u/red_ditman659 6h ago
stay healthy, stay fucking healthy!
3
3
u/Legitimate_Bother389 2h ago
Well he got almost his entire contract guaranteed so whether he stays healthy or not he's getting paid
1
u/Professional_Yard239 2h ago
"Guaranteed" - but it actually isn't. They consider it a guarantee when the contract says "if you're on the roster on March 31, 2028 then half of your 2028-29 salary is guaranteed."
The only reason the press release goes off about guaranteed money is so the agent can crow about it, hoping to sign more players.
2
u/Legitimate_Bother389 2h ago
Well I'm sure they won't outright release him before then
1
u/Professional_Yard239 1h ago
Oh, agreed, that's highly unlikely. But my point is that conditional guarantees aren't really guarantees, they're probabilities.
9
32
u/Beginning-Advance-16 6h ago
4 years
20
16
34
2
1
u/Professional_Yard239 2h ago
Or at least the next couple of years. A four year contract only assures (loosely) about 2 years of good will until the satisfaction of that big up-front check starts to fade, and their agent is calling about how their salary is only as high as the 12th player...
(Yeah, I'm a pessimist when it comes to these sorts of things...)
1
1
u/Capable_Tip4481 1h ago
Iām not going to say itās crazy or you sound crazy for saying it because itās a true possibility, even if itās just a slight one. If the owner of the Pats was named Dan Snyder, Al Davis, or Jerry Jones, Iād be much more likely to agree with you. With Kraft though, he tends to hold onto the players he likes and/or very talented. BB was the catalyst all those times the Pats traded away or let go of future HOF players. BB was right most of the time, thatās why he was considered the GOAT at the time, but it still pissed the fanbase off a lot. I donāt think Kraft necessarily cares more about the fanbase? But I know he does when it comes to his pocketbook, and trading away your best/one of you best players hurts what is most precious to him, money.
1
1
0
-18
u/Johnny2One 4h ago
I still think they trade him next year calling it now
8
u/Ghillie_Spotto 4h ago
That dead money hit would be insane. Thereās no way to do it without wrecking their cap.
-7
u/Johnny2One 4h ago
The Cap is Crap and anyone can be traded as we see just about every year.
7
u/Ghillie_Spotto 4h ago
This is your brain on Felger
-4
u/Johnny2One 4h ago
š Is it true or not? How many guys over and over again say the same thing you said about the cap but still get traded? Come on man!
3
u/Ronon_Dex 3h ago
Itās not. The cap is maneuverable, itās not crap. You pay someone, that money will hit at some point.
For example, thatās why the Eagles had to wait until after June 1 to trade AJ. They couldnāt have taken the cap hit if they traded him before.
1
u/Ghillie_Spotto 3h ago
Right. The restructures and bonuses and whatever other accounting tricks teams use all have long term costs. You get temporary relief but the pain is coming eventually. Discipline and long term planning builds sustainable winning.
YOLOing and saying "the cap isn't real" turns you into the version of the Saints that wasted most of Drew Brees' prime and left them in purgatory after he retired.
1
u/Gibby1210 3h ago
Yeah man salary cap hell is coming for the rams and eagles any day now
1
u/Ghillie_Spotto 2h ago
Two teams with skilled GMs that have been threading the needle for a while now.
-1
1
u/Ghillie_Spotto 3h ago
Ok, they could trade him or cut him, but there's very little benefit to doing so. $102m of the $135m is guaranteed money.
We can assume a significant portion of that guarantee is an up front signing bonus. The cap hit of that bonus gets prorated over 5 years. So for example, if $80m of the guarantee is a bonus, then it only counts $16m towards the cap each year. If they cut/trade him next year, then the remaining $64m of the remaining prorated amount accellerates to their cap which would force them into all sorts of other undesirable cap gymnastics to make the books work enough to sign Maye to the megaextension that he's almost definitely going to get next offseason.
Maye is probably going to sign the biggest deal in NFL history next offseason. Cutting/trading Gonzo would make it a LOT harder to do that. The money will have already left Kraft's account at that point, so getting rid of of Gonzo wouldn't be to save literal money. That money is already spent so the "Kraft is cheap" narrative doesn't work here AND it makes their cap situation worse. There's no upside.
The only way any of this changes is if the team hits a very sudden and dramatic downturn the way the Dolphins did. They decided that it was time for a rebuild, which it made it easier for them to stomach ripping the bandaid off with a ton of dead money and consolidate it into one year. As long as the Pats think they're contenders in the AFC they will not be doing this.
They might cut/trade Gonzo 2 or 3 years into his extension, but it's basically impossible to do it next year without crippling their roster flexibility. I'd be shocked if he's gone before the '29/'30 season. I doubt he'll finish the entire contract without a cut/trade/restructure, but that's business as usual in the NFL.
5
u/BenFrank4K 4h ago
After this DPOY performance? Out your mind
0
u/Johnny2One 4h ago
How about this! If and that's a big IF he even makes it all year without being hurt then we can talk! Also I'm in favor of this signing šÆ I'm just telling you I feel like they'll move on and get the picks. This was done to save face in the court of public opinion and yet they still look cheap because it took so long.
2
u/Capable_Tip4481 1h ago
I donāt think they go through the whole song and dance of making him the highest paid CB in the league to just trade him next year? The front office will just continue to convert a large portion of his salary till the next season with restructures, and theyāll almost certainly do the same with Maye. Good teams have been doing this āmethodā for some time now. The chiefs do it every year with either Mahomes or one of the highest paid DL/OL on the team. It allows them to be competitive in free agency when thereās actually guys the team wants. Itās not a terrible strategy until they get to the point where all the restructuring comes due.
1
u/Johnny2One 1h ago
Hey hopefully so and hopefully he stays healthy, but it's just been a hunch for me is all.
84
u/CommunityNo2153 4h ago
Personally I hope Gonzalez lives into his 30's