"Pay the man."
Decisions, decisions—that's what is being done behind closed doors at Gillette Stadium right now as free agency now looms not just for the New England Patriots but for every NFL team.
Still, the Patriots have many scenarios, most likely drawn up on a whiteboard. Eliot Wolf and Mike Vrabel both have a list of players they can afford to keep; some they have to let walk into the market to go elsewhere.
One thing is for certain, though: the team needs to give cornerback Christian Gonzalez an extension. Even one of the best corners to ever wear a Patriots uniform agrees.
Ty Law has been a name associated with Gonzalez as of late. Law was part of the early days of the Patriots' dynasty. He would land himself a seven-year $50 million contract as the team's star shutdown cornerback at one point.
Law was on NBC Sports Boston's Tom Curran's podcast, Patriots Talk. When it comes to what Law thinks about Gonzalez's potential contract extension, the former Patriots CB thinks the team needs to open up their wallets in a big way.
“You pay the man,” Gonzalez told Curran. “One, you’ve got to look at youth. You look at a talent like that—you picked him in the first round for a reason. He’s one of your own. So, in my opinion, he’s lived up to the expectations. He is one of the top two, three, or four corners in the game right now, no doubt. So, if you already have him in the building, do what’s right. Pay that man what he deserves to get paid.”
Law knows a Patriot when he sees one, and he clearly sees Gonzalez as one and knows that the first-rounder has significant leverage in negotiations with the team to make the deal work out.
“You always look at the upside and the potential, because once you hit 30, things start going down. Even you as a player, you have to look at it a little bit different and you have to negotiate different. But when you have the leverage, you need to leverage to the max.”
Gonzalez was the one positive takeaway from the Patriots' Super Bowl loss. He was key in forcing the Seahawks to rely on their run game, as he made wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba a nonfactor for most of the night. A contract extension from the Patriots to Gonzalez has yet to be announced, but many feel it's just a matter of time before it is.