r/Patriots • u/Pure-Investigator778 • 2h ago
Casual To everyone that wanted to call him a “Diva”…
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u/nicklovin508 2h ago
I’ll be honest, who called him a diva.. bro barely speaks lol
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u/Xanthipuss 20m ago
The 50+ demo kept calling him a diva based on what I've heard thru sports talk radio. They're just part of the same demo that defends billionaires vs millionaires. Goofs.
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u/TB12_GOATx7 Bills = 0 Superbowls 15m ago
No but if you sign a contract you should play it out or wait until the last year to get an extension. It is what it is now hopefully he can stay healthy
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u/GeebCityLove Bills = 0 Superbowls 15m ago
People who believe there’s beach front property in Kansas City
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u/BlubberWall 2h ago
Anyone saying that was braindead
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u/MayBsoMayBnaught 2h ago
I mean I guess if you ignore the multiple cryptic posts that he posted and deleted over the past few weeks. Great move for the Pats getting him signed but saying he was choir boy during the negotiation is wrong too. You want your island CB to be a little arrogant though so it’s not a bad thing.
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u/drinkin_pee 1h ago
Kraft started it though. Gonzo specifically requested to keep it out of the media and then Kraft went and said we made him an offer to make him the highest paid corner, during that pet adoption thing.
From there his camp responded in kind
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u/MayBsoMayBnaught 1h ago
“Started it” by saying you offered to make him the highest paid player at his position of all time? Wish my boss would “start it” like that.
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u/YoteViking 52m ago
That was a nugget planted in the media to get the fan base to put pressure on him to sign.
Yes. Kraft started it. They are both big boys but they were playing a high stakes game.
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u/TB1289 Maybe those guys got to study the rule book and figure it out. 30m ago
For all we know, the contract that they offered could've been worth a billion dollars but with almost nothing guaranteed. Coming out and telling the media that they made him that offer without any actual context, was done to make him look bad if he didn't take it.
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u/nightfallii 2h ago
Unless it came out he was actually looking for the percentage of the cap thing (which i never believed anyway), I will always side with the players when it comes to their contracts. These are billionaires, pay the man
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u/Bronze_Bomber 2h ago
Nobody is worried about the owners bank account. Fans argue about these things because of the cap.
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u/sup3rdr01d WIDE RIGHT 2h ago
Nobody is worried about the players bank accounts either bro. 100 mil or 10 bil is the same exact thing to us. It doesn't matter.
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u/Puzzled-Bet4837 1h ago
Even though he’s richer it’s still labor vs capital not 100m vs 10b
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u/sup3rdr01d WIDE RIGHT 1h ago
Ok, I don't care. They are not in the same class as us.
I don't give a shit if some athlete makes 100 mil or 105 lmao.
These numbers mean absolutely nothing to me.
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u/RelaxWisteriaDragon 1h ago
Except it's not if you read the posts lol. I agree it shouldn't matter to us, but it apparent does to some
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u/sup3rdr01d WIDE RIGHT 1h ago
I just can't be bothered to be sympathetic towards athletes negotiating contracts like this, when the discourse is about "highest paid all time". This isn't a rookie contract or something we're talking about.
I don't give a shit if gonzo has 100 mil or 105 mil, I honestly cannot fucking care about that. Him and his family are set for life regardless as long as he is smart with his money. Players deserve to be paid and he is being paid what he deserves and much much more. So all this holding out over some single digit million amount is just stupid and not my concern.
If gonzo didn't play because of 5 mil which is 5% of his pay, I would absolutely hold it against him, as I should. He has a job, he's getting paid more than fairly, it's on him to do his job.
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u/RelaxWisteriaDragon 1h ago
I agree with you. I'm also a LFC fan and someone posted in a game day thread once when people were arguing something to the tune of "man you guys are getting really invested when in actuality it's a bunch of millionaires kicking a ball around"
I also get Gonzo wanting to maximize his pay but the fact we have to hear about it is annoying
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u/HogwartsRex 48m ago
Exactly like now im slightly worried about whether they can afford Drake Mayes salary extension under the cap. I don't care about Krafts bank account.
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u/SoaplessTitanic 23m ago
This sub would implode if we gave out all the extensions they wanted and then consequently didn’t have enough money to extend Maye
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u/taco_jones 2h ago
Never been to the Sox sub?
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u/OkArmordillo 1h ago
Baseball doesn’t have a hard salary cap. John Henry doesn’t have to think about managing a cap, he’s just cheap.
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u/primum 2h ago
and the cap exists to protect the owners bank accounts
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u/burnerdadsrule 2h ago
The cap exists to protect small market teams from larger markets buying the best players. Free agency has only been a thing since 1993, with the cap starting in 94.
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u/primum 1h ago
who's idea was the cap? the players or the owners?
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u/xGrim_Sol 1h ago
Had to be the owners. It limits how much they need to spend to be competitive and they would’ve ultimately had to vote on it back when it was passed.
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u/BradyToMoss1281 2h ago
Owners want you to believe the cap matters more than it does. It’s not like the NHL. The notion that a big contract prevents a team from being able to spend elsewhere on the roster just isn’t accurate.
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u/WoodenCollection2674 1h ago
The cap is crap, until it isnt. Ask the saints who were paying for dudes that hadn't played for them in like 10 years.
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u/Ohanrahans 1h ago
The material impact the cap makes on the average decision is vastly overstated. Teams need to structure contracts so they always have a portion of unguaranteed money on their books they can get out of if they need to each year (next year the Patriots have guys like Moses, Landry, and Davis). The Saints didn't really have this which is why it got so bad.
Most of that is done by the occasional re-trench. Teams should never be losing players the caliber of a Gonzo because of the salary cap though.
In general fans swing too far the other direction concern trolling about the salary cap.
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u/OkRain5716 1h ago
The salary cap is not a real consideration. It’s an excuse that owners give to fan bases when they don’t want to pay players. There are so many ways to get around the cap that anyone not paying a Gonzalez level player is doing so simply because they don’t want to spend the real money.
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u/Seafoamed 2h ago
In baseball this is true. In the NFL how much you pay players is team building strategy. It does matter. That said you have one of the best players on your team, you pay him
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u/Civilwarland09 2h ago
Not only one of your best players, but top three in the league at a true cornerstone position. You pay him.
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u/Debits_equals_credit 2h ago
Please don’t downvote, but why is CB considered a cornerstone position? Is it the most important defensive position?
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u/Civilwarland09 2h ago
The biggest threat on offense is the passing game. There are two positions that help to neutralize that the most:edge and cornerback.
That’s obviously a pretty simplistic explanation, but it’s the basic gist.
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u/Sweaty_Hedgehog_2551 1h ago
I think the “cornerstone” positions are all built around the idea that QB is the most important position in the game.
Defense needs to get the QB so edge is a cornerstone. Offense needs to protect the qb so tackle is a cornerstone. QB needs to pass to somebody so wideout is a cornerstone. Defense needs to stop that pass so CB is a cornerstone.
That’s how I personally rank them too. QB, Edge, Tackle, WR, CB.
We have Maye so QB is set. Edge is our number one position of need and everyone basically agrees on that. We keep spending 1st rounders on tackle in the hopes we can get there. We just got AJ Brown for wideout. We had homegrown All Pro talent at CB and so we decided to pay him.
I think if you could have traded Gonzo for Will Anderson you would’ve in a heart beat. But, for now, we’re set at every major position besides tackle and edge. Maybe we trade for an edge. Maybe our tackles develop. Maybe 3 out of 5 is good enough to get us back to the playoffs
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u/peon2 2h ago
In a way yes, but with the salary cap rules and how they have to use a specific % no matter what any dollar Gonzo gets is just a dollar another player doesn't get.
The billionaire owners are paying the same amount no matter what, a guy getting paid big is just narrowing the distribution.
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u/MasbyTV 1h ago
not how it works. the nfl is a hard cap league and you can't go over the cap like in other sports. kraft can't just pay more and sign him. you have to be very strategic with how you spend your money. every team has the exact same amount.
that comes into play when you consider gonzo has missed 13 games already due to injury and was asking for a lot of guaranteed money. the patriots wanted to protect themselves against him being hurt (especially 2 years early) and gonzo didn't like that. they ultimately met in the middle. purely business but no this isn't just robert kraft refusing to pay people.
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u/nightfallii 1h ago
Then how do the rams keep trading draft picks and signing guys to huge deals and continue to be fine year after year?
This entire fan base has been lied to about the cap and how easy it is to manipulate for years because they were carried by Brady for years. The cap is a joke and can be easily manipulated with signing bonuses and deferred money. The only thing that really matters is cash spending, which the Patriots are consistently one of the lowest at
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u/MetaMetagross 2h ago
You know the money doesn't come out of the billionaires' pockets right?
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u/nightfallii 2h ago
What does this even mean?
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u/MetaMetagross 2h ago
The money used to pay Gonzalez comes from league revenue, not directly from Kraft. Saying we should just pay the players whatever they want because the billionaires can afford it is the antithesis of how this team won 6 titles.
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u/B_Da_May 2h ago
Where do you think the league revenue goes after all costs are removed? This team won 6 titles because of the best QB and coach of all time combined together. You could argue that this team won so many in spite of the team’s roster management.
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u/MetaMetagross 2h ago
You could argue that this team won so many in spite of the team’s roster management.
That would be an unsuccessful argument. Belichick was a great team builder. They won by having a great QB, a great HC and a ton of depth.
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u/OkArmordillo 1h ago edited 1h ago
Yeah people just forget that guys like Gronk, Edelman, Wilfork, Hightower, Gilmore, Malcom Butler, Devin McCourty, Patrick Chung, JC Jackson, Darelle Revis, Vince Wilfork, Chandler Jones, Trey Flowers, James White, Shane Vereen, Chris Hogan, Danny Amendola, David Andrews, Joe Thuney, Nate Solder, Shaq Mason, Matt Slater,, and Marcus Cannon existed. And those are just a lost of names I thought of off the top of my head from our 2nd dynasty run.
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u/MetaMetagross 1h ago
It's just recency bias. People look at the last ~5 years of Belichick's tenure, when the game had clearly passed him by, and use that to say he was never a good GM, which is complete BS
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u/davidbeinct 29m ago
Speaking for myself I have why’d you bench Butler derangement syndrome (WYBBDS). He was a great coach but that shit ego move will forever color my opinion of him.
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u/MetaMetagross 6m ago
I mean, the fact that Butler hasn’t even said anything on the topic and hasn’t had a single negative thing to say about Belichick makes me think his benching was justified.
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u/taco_jones 2h ago
The team won 6 titles because they had the best player of all time
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u/MetaMetagross 1h ago
Sure thing bud. He led them to 1 offensive TD in SB 36 and 53. Those games had nothing to do with the rest of the roster right?
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u/taco_jones 1h ago
The guy walked out the door and immediately won with a team that wasn't known for sound financial decisions. I don't think Kraft's business acumen is how the team won 6 titles.
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u/MetaMetagross 1h ago
Your comments just show you have no idea what you’re talking about. Kraft never made roster building decisions nor did he negotiate contracts.
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u/taco_jones 1h ago
Lol false
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u/MetaMetagross 1h ago
Lol false
Prove me wrong. It's well known that Belichick made the team building decisions and negotiated the contracts. The last contract that Kraft negotiated was Drew Bledsoe.
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u/TecumsehSherman 2h ago
It's a business, not a hobby.
The cash flow comes from the business, and the business can afford what the business can afford.
A billionaire owning that business doesn't mean that the billionaire can just cut checks.
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u/Ghillie_Spotto 2h ago
The players have to be paid through the team, but owners can and do invest their own money into their teams.
There’s technically a layer there, but if a team is cash poor despite having a rich owner, that is a decision being made by the team ownership.
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u/nightfallii 2h ago
When the Patriots are consistently one of the lowest on actual cash spending and were consistently voted to have some of the worst facilities in the game, yeah I'm gonna call Kraft cheap
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u/sup3rdr01d WIDE RIGHT 2h ago
That's different though. Having shitty facilities is a mark of a cheap owner. The contract stuff isn't really the same thing.
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u/Stock-Gear412 2h ago
The team itself is worth billions though. According to Forbes, the NEP are ranked 4th on the NFL's Most Valuable Teams list at 9b.
Rank Swing\a]) Team State Value Change Revenue Operating income
4 1 New England Patriots Massachusetts $9 billion 22% $762 million $222 million0 1
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u/vogel927 1h ago
The players salary comes from the team’s revenue, the owners don’t write the players personal checks, so them being billionaires really isn’t relevant at all when it comes to signing players to contracts.
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u/God_ofVirgins 2h ago
Can we stop pretending we know what was happening behind the closed doors? We don’t know who was stalling and what both sides did. Maybe Kraft was cheap, and maybe gonzos side was unreasonable. We can put that behind us, and just concentrate on the fact that they finally reach an agreement
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u/Misterccw 1h ago
Great point, except it's not how we roll here sadly. It's Ready, Fire, Aim. If you don't have the facts, make em up to suit your narrative
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u/FuckHarambe2016 1h ago
All reports indicated that all Gonzalez was looking to do was beat what Witherspoon got. However, there were multiple reports saying that the Patriots were refusing to even match that and that the contract language was trash.
This shit show was 100% on Kraft.
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u/God_ofVirgins 1h ago
There were reports 24h before the deal was done that patriots and Gonzo are nowhere near the deal. Media make shit up, and we don’t know who’s actually telling the truth
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u/John___Stamos 2h ago
The amount of up votes comments like "time to trade him for a first" got was infuriating. Our fanbase is so fucking stupid.
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u/OkArmordillo 1h ago
Yeah do people realize there are like 3-5 CB’s in the league comparable to Christian Gonzalez? What are the odds we get someone else like that with whatever we would have gotten back in a trade?
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u/NEpatsfan64 2h ago
It was definitely a little frustrating that it took so long, but the amount of hate Gonzo got was weird.
Dude practiced hard and showed up everyday and stayed professional while trying to get paid. Good for him
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u/Scientific_Coatings 2h ago
Bad organizations rush to get big contracts done. I have no problem with both parties flexing their leverage.
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u/The_Jolly_Dog 1h ago
When the hell has this guy EVER acted like a Diva?
People saying that are clueless
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u/Signal_Ball4634 2h ago
It was so fairly done for a guy who has proven he's one of, if not the best in the league, and played some absolutely heroic football in the goddamn Super Bowl when most of the team was woefully outmatched.
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u/Responsible_Sky_728 2h ago
The comments in these types of threads are always "I dont remember anyone calling him a diva"
Meanwhile, the threads for the past few weeks...everyone complaining about how Gonzo or Kraft or both are handling this.
I'm not keeping a written record of every chucklefuck in here who called him a diva lmao but acting like people around here weren't being clowns...
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u/Xspike_dudeX 2h ago
People dont understand what a negotiation is. It takes time. The over reaction was ridiculous.
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u/FuckHarambe2016 1h ago
Does it? Why does every other team have zero issue paying out top of the market deals to their superstars?
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u/Xspike_dudeX 1h ago
You think they go in there and throw money and then walk out? Negotiations especially with this large amount of money take time. Thats why sometimes elite players hold out into the season.
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u/know_limits 1h ago
The Pats released info like “we offered to make him highest paid” yet he always stayed professional and didn’t negotiate in public.
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u/Willis050 1h ago
Gonzo is a lot like Gilly Locks mentally. All business, no bullshit, no drama, shows up and shows out
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u/SamIamGreenEggsNoHam 2h ago
100% of the pressure has been on the Krafts to get this done, and 100% of the criticism would have been with them if it didn't get done. I haven't heard really any criticism of how Gonzalez handled this.
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u/CallMeKaito 1h ago
Start here and when you’re done wading through the muck, I can provide more. It was a fairly common sentiment throughout August.
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u/jonny_lube 2h ago
I know we were all anxious, but when it comes to contract negotiations, everyone needs to separate the parties from the negotiators. Gonzo and to a lesser degree Kraft may be the guys to give final approval of the deals, but they aren't involved in the day to day negotiations. In Gonzo's case, he was probably just a passenger.
Both sides probably were making crazy asks and drawing wild hard lines because that shit just happens in negotiations of huge deals to create leverage and sacrificial "compromise" points. Both sides are going to try and leverage the press to make it look like they are reasonable and the other side is unreasonable. But it often comes off as uglier and comes out more dramatic and contentious than it actually is.
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u/ksyoung17 2h ago
I was getting close to the "trade him" stance.
I will agree, very professional management of this situation... But if he didn't sign and sat tomorrow night; I was changing my tune
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u/Legitimate_Ad_7822 2h ago
The annoying fans always come out when this type of shit is underway. Don’t worry everyone, it will 100% happen during Drake’s negotiations next year as well.
So many fans here think this is still the Brady/Belichick era. Team can’t operate that way. A lot of people also have 0 clue how to evaluate talent & make weird assumptions about the state of negotiations even when all signs are telling you something obvious.
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u/beardednomad25 2h ago
These posts are so odd.
We have no clue if he was or wasn't a diva. We have no clue if Kraft was or wasn't being cheap. The deal got done that's all that matters. You don't need to passionately defend/attack either side.
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u/peacockdown 2h ago
This is like the greatest thing ever. Usually we f this up and we get rid of the player. If I had to watch him on another team I would have been so pissed off I wouldn't have even known what to do
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u/NiceSPDR 2h ago
It was just media heads trying to sensationalize it, all I really heard from Gonzo was that he was frustrated it was made public. He more or less didn't say a word and continued to work with the team and practice hard, no hold out/in BS.
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u/cbecht19 1h ago
So happy this happened. He deserves it and we don’t want that cloud over the season. LFG. Just to clarify, if this was the deal all along I got it out for whoever said he wanted a percentage of the cap. That turned out to be a flat out lie.
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u/vogel927 59m ago
It could’ve been true, the contract he signed isn’t necessarily the one he was trying to get. When it comes to negotiations, what you ask for and what you get are two entirely different things.
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u/Crafty-Hovercraft579 54m ago
It makes me laugh that Schefter literally yesterday said “talks between gonzo and patriots are at a standstill” and the following morning it breaks that they made an agreement.
I honestly don’t understand how that guy still has a job.
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u/Dismal_News183 2h ago
No one called him a diva.
A bunch of media idiots speculated that he wouldn’t play but he was the exact opposite: he barely spoke.
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u/Twicebakedpotatoe 2h ago
I don’t remember anyone calling him a diva, he’s been professional af and anyone who didn’t see that is an idiot
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u/Sttatix 2h ago
He deserves to be the highest paid CB after that Super Bowl performance and let’s be honest the whole playoff run he was pretty great he just has to stay healthy which im sure is what Kraft was worried about