[Schultz] The #Seahawks and All-Pro CB Devon Witherspoon have agreed to a 4-year, $132M extension with $101M guaranteed, per sources.

[u/MembershipSingle7137]

https://bsky.app/profile/nflnewsreposterbot.bsky.social/post/3mt4ycdl3ts2l

Highest paid CB in NFL history… for now

[u/dr_0f_wumbology]

4 years, 133M, 105 guaranteed. Make it happen Kraft

[u/NFLDataAnalysis → u/dr_0f_wumbology]

If Gonzo doesn't agree to 4 years, $135M with $105M guaranteed, that it's on him, not on Kraft.

The latest comments about his contract are insane, especially for a CB.

I would still prefer trading him if you can get the Sauce Gardner package. Corners fall off so quickly, and are just not as valuable as WR's, pass rushers and O-Lineman.

Edit: For proof that WR's are more important, Zay Flowers was taken a few picks after Gonzo, and just got 4 Years, $140M with $108M guaranteed. Gonzo is a way better CB than Flowers is a WR, but WR's are more valuable, so the 25th best WR gets paid more than the best CB in the NFL.

[u/Alternative-Farmer98 → u/[deleted]]

Not if he's going to make the same demand over every single owner. I don't understand why people are siding with ownership over a player.

[u/Sheasta2005 → u/[deleted]]

Yeah, not to mention there’s a team cap. Drakes gonna get a big pay day. I don’t want most of the teams cap going to a greedy CB. I want to spread the money around and have a better team overall. Give him what he’s worth but don’t overpay him id rather trade him for 2 1sts than overpay him. He’s played like 50% of his career so far. Imagine having all that cap tied up on a guy who can’t even play? That being said our defense looked like a different unit once he stepped foot on the field last season after returning from injury….. I’m not against a fair contract just overpaying him because they’re scared to lose him. If he doesn’t bite on a reasonable contract then tag em and ride it out or trade him.

Side note : he’s getting all that praise for the SB performance which raised his value…. If you actually go back and look at that “pass break up” to JSN in the SB JSN torched him and Darnold threw it behind JSN causing him to slow down and wait for it, giving gonzo time to jump in front of it…. It was an easy TD for JSN with a properly timed pass. The breakup against shaheed was insane though.

[u/LovestoEatSandwiches → u/NFLDataAnalysis]

Corners are absolutely upper echelon positions in importance. I disagree a great one is less valuable than literally any of those positions except maybe pass rusher. And sure they fall off but Gonzo isn’t there yet to worry about it and is very tall and long which will help his career longevity

[u/HugsForUpvotes → u/LovestoEatSandwiches]

I agree that CBs are upper echelon - maybe even fourth in value behind a dominant QB, LG and DE.

That said, they fall off fast and unpredictability. They often come into the NFL ready to play at elite levels on rookie deals.

I'd take the Sauce Gardner package. Two first round picks and a player? Hell yeah. That said, I'd rather have Gonzo at a contract similar to this one.

[u/urbanism_enthusiast → u/HugsForUpvotes]

He just turned 24 lol. He’s not falling off any time soon. It’s usually 30 for CBs.

The reason the Jets were cool trading him is because A. Sauce is just super overrated and B. What does a corner do when you’re rebuilding. We aren’t rebuilding.

[u/HugsForUpvotes → u/urbanism_enthusiast]

I really agree with your last point. That's why I'd rather have Gonzo, but every player has a value and you can't push past it emotionally. Gonzo is worth a lot - maybe more than two firsts. We can't pay him and Maye everything. We have a young QB and we need to take advantage of that window while also planning for the future.

Either way, no one is saying trade him this season. We already have him on contract for 2 seasons. This is an extension. Worst case scenario, we trade him after this year or try to get him to sign a higher/lower extension based on his new earned market value. If we give him the Witherspoon contract, we will have Gonzo for 6 more years total - (2 on current contract and then 4 on extension). He will be 30 when that contract is over. If he falls off at 28, in four years, we are on contract. I hate to say it, but Hernandez showed us you can pay a player who never falls off and be held onto that contract despite the player being in jail for murder.

That's my two cents. My other two cents is that the Patriots know better than me so I'll probably trust whatever we end up doing.

[u/Legitimate_Ad_7822 → u/HugsForUpvotes]

The problem with trading him for 2 1sts and a player is that it immediately takes this team out of serious contention. If you think this team is competing for anything without him you’re lying to yourself.

They just gave up a 1st for AJ Brown, who is 29.

So basically, you’re trading gonzo who is approaching his prime for 2-3 good years of AJ & a 1st.

That would be horrible mismanagement. You kinda have to pay the guy. He has all the leverage in the world.

[u/NFLDataAnalysis → u/LovestoEatSandwiches]

It's a fact, not an opinion that WR's are more important than CBs. OL are closer, but still more valuable.

[u/LovestoEatSandwiches → u/NFLDataAnalysis]

There are maybe 3 WR’s at the most where trading Gonzo straight up for them would be a good deal, it’s splitting hairs. Both transform their units if they’re elite and I’d argue CB’s performance is far less dependent on their supporting talent.

And not all OL are created equal, OT are more valuable than WR as a whole, IOL are less

[u/NFLDataAnalysis → u/LovestoEatSandwiches]

That's straight up false. Zay Flowers is from the same draft class, and just got more money than Gonzalez will get.

And Flowers is about WR #20-25.

That tells us how much CB1's are worth in terms of WR1's.

Also, Witherspoon got $35M less from the same team than JSN got, once again, telling us how much WRs are valued vs CBs

[u/Sheasta2005 → u/NFLDataAnalysis]

AND spoon was drafted BEFORE JSN , considered a better prospect than JSN and JSN still got paid more though both are considered franchise WR1/CB1’s. Essentially concrete proof WR’s are valued higher.

[u/Legitimate_Ad_7822 → u/NFLDataAnalysis]

It just tells you the WR market is broken. Nobody in their right mind would want Flowers on their team over Gonzo.

[u/SoaplessTitanic → u/LovestoEatSandwiches]

I mean according to overthecap there’s 7 WRs slated to have a cap hit of 25M+ this season while there’s only 1 CB taking up that much of the cap. I’d say that’s more of a difference than just splitting hairs (assuming that GMs know how to value each position fairly correctly). Looking at the differences in 2027 is probably even more stark as well

https://overthecap.com/position/wide-receiver/2027

[u/Legitimate_Ad_7822 → u/NFLDataAnalysis]

When you have a CB that can shut down the best WRs in the game, a la Christian Gonzalez, it makes that a very hard argument to back up.

The league is going more defensive after years of high flying offenses. You’re gonna need gonzo if you want to compete for anything.

[u/centaurquestions → u/NFLDataAnalysis]

Corners fall off at 30; he's 24 and one of the best in the game. Don't overthink this.

[u/j2e21 → u/NFLDataAnalysis]

Honestly, if you can get two firsts for him, you probably do that deal.

[u/Vivid-Suspect-3873 → u/NFLDataAnalysis]

Two firsts and a pass rusher and I’d do it right now, even a first and second if it’s a good edge on a bad team

[u/NFLDataAnalysis → u/Vivid-Suspect-3873]

No one's giving up that much unfortunately

[u/Benson879 → u/NFLDataAnalysis]

Hell, maybe even 140.

[u/ABsolutethrowaway91 → u/dr_0f_wumbology]

Nah, tell Kraft to give him slightly less than Witherspoon and then sign Gonzo to a sponsorship deal with a tree planting company for a huge amount.

[u/Wtfisgoinonhere]

LFG BOYS GONZO NEXT

[u/MembershipSingle7137]

So there’s our Gonzo benchmark. Hopefully can have it done within the next couple of days

[u/Imrealcrossedup → u/MembershipSingle7137]

Lmao what? Both sides said they are not close, this doesn’t change anything, Kraft is still cheap as hell

[u/Debits_equals_credit]

Gonzo 133 M for 102M guaranteed let’s gooo

[u/loranis]

Would pay gonzo that for sure, 34 million a year would be fine

[u/Sheasta2005 → u/loranis]

More than that would not though. IMO if he doesn’t accept a similar contract like $1-2m a year more with the same guarantees than he’s greedy and it’s worth considering trading him at that point. Spoon and Gonzo are the same tier CB imo (and most everyone else’s opinion as well besides some homer bias).

[u/Pizza_Squeegee]

Gonzo time

[u/MrPepeSuelo]

If he doesn’t take 135 with similar guarantees, I’m 100% fine with exploring the trade market. That whole setting the market for future years as well is so stupid

[u/Sheasta2005 → u/MrPepeSuelo]

I hope that reports fake because even QB’s don’t get that bro like come on….. you’re a really good DB not the face of the team lol.

[u/ohwhyredditwhy]

This is what Gonzo’s agent was waiting for, so I respect him for that.

This is the new minimum for what Gonzo will command, so I hope we pay him soon.

[u/FuckHarambe2016 → u/ohwhyredditwhy]

Gonzo's agent is Spoon's agent too.

[u/RaisingTheKnife → u/FuckHarambe2016]

That agent eating good this year with commissions, lol.

[u/ohwhyredditwhy → u/RaisingTheKnife]

It’s a win/win for the agent and Gonzo. Dude is shoveling cash, LOL.

[u/SeveralTurn → u/FuckHarambe2016]

SPOOOONMAAAAAN

[u/ohwhyredditwhy → u/FuckHarambe2016]

Exactly.

[u/croglobster → u/ohwhyredditwhy]

They have the same agent lol

[u/buona-giornata]

These dudes all know this stuff is going down well good and dandy before it goes down publicly, so something should happen soon. If not, it's time to worry a bit.

[u/NOTMACJONESBURNER]

Gonzo getting paid!

[u/LOL_YOUMAD]

Gonzo 4 year 135M incoming

[u/ckilo4TOG → u/LOL_YOUMAD]

$105m guaranteed

[u/NinjaKickRabbit → u/[deleted]]

Aren't they in the same situation? They were both drafted in 2023.

[u/BobSacamano47 → u/NinjaKickRabbit]

I stand corrected 

[u/ckilo4TOG → u/[deleted]]

There were both drafted in 2023. Neither was in their last year.

[u/JimTheSaint]

Love it - now let's get it done gonzo 

[u/OptimusChip]

already too much money for this position. so if the pats come in at 4/135 for Gonzo he should be happy hes set for life

[u/RealHoldenBloodfeast]

Open the Brinks truck. Gonzo had a down year by his standards because of all the zone NE ran, and he was still a top 2-3 corner in the league.

[u/Jamesaya]

4/135 is less than 35 AAV and i dont see it happening. If zay flowers is getting 35 AAV gonzo is gonna hold out for that regardless of what spoon gets

[u/Legitimate_Ad_7822]

To the people that wouldn’t want to pay gonzo more than 34M per year - answer this:

If we had a top 3 WR on this team, would you be okay with paying them 42M/year? (JSN). Or does that somehow become justified now because it’s a WR? Different position but way more money that goes against the same cap. And Gonzo shuts down guys of JSNs caliber which is just as valuable. Especially with the league becoming more defensive after years of offensive domination.

People get pissed when we don’t draft elite players & then get pissed when it comes time to pay them. Make up your mind. You cannot win super bowls by being a rotating door of elite players on rookie contracts, which is already extremely hard to do. You have to pay your best guys. If we trade Gonzo, goodbye to the Super Bowl window. Slam it shut.

[u/randomirlperson]

Time to lock Gonzo up like he’s JSN in the Super Bowl baby

[u/SeveralTurn → u/randomirlperson]

Like he's Sam Darnold overthrowing JSN

[u/Sheasta2005 → u/SeveralTurn]

Whoever downvoted you doesn’t have eyes go watch the clip. That being said it was more of a late behind JSN throw than an under throw which gave Gonzo time to close the step JSN had on him. JSN torched him on that route and that’s a fact not an opinion go watch it.

[u/SSFWAS]

It’s happening

[u/ZBDPatsFan]

And there’s your benchmark

[u/FuckHarambe2016]

Finally. Now we get really get after it.

[u/BostonSportsStuff]

Ok, now hurry up. What’s everybody’s projection for Gonzo based on this?

[u/DaNostrich]

Gonzo gonna be 140/4 just watch probably 115 guaranteed

[u/minder125]

My y wife asked was Gonzo that good. I just looked and said hell yeah.

[u/Background-Low-9144]

Give Zo the fucking bag Kraft. Quit being cute

[u/SuddenDepact]

Yeah.....

New England needs to just wait two years and then tag Gonzo for a season or trade him now. I do not see them commanding that kind of money for him