00:00The Christian Gonzalez contract continues to be a topic of conversation,
00:03and sadly for those that are tired of it, it will be until it is signed
00:06or he is traded.
00:07Let's go down the Cape and talk to Dave about just that.
00:11Hey, guys.
00:12So why can't we give him 102, right, pay him the 60, right,
00:17because that's the highest for this year, and then moving forward,
00:21he wants to be the top guy, right, regardless of everybody else.
00:25So can't they set up some type of a performance system where they say,
00:29okay, you know what, next year, if you're the best cornerback,
00:33then we'll make sure you're paid as the best cornerback.
00:36If you're the number three, then you're going to get paid like the number three.
00:40Can't they set up some type of incentive?
00:42I mean, I know it's easier with the skilled players, yards, touchdowns,
00:45stuff like that, but can't they set something up with him?
00:48Why would he do that?
00:52Because that's basically what he wants.
00:54He wants to be the next three years.
00:56But he wants it to be guaranteed regardless of performance, Dave.
00:59I think that's the issue, right,
01:00is the team can set it up, add incentives to contracts all the time,
01:03but that means the player has to be playing and reach those incentives.
01:06But the player just wants the money to be guaranteed regardless.
01:09Right.
01:10Well, I thought he wanted – I thought the deal –
01:13what he was looking for was he wanted to be the top paid guy over the next three years.
01:19Correct, but he doesn't want to lose that if he gets hurt or something.
01:24Well, I don't know.
01:26Then maybe he's just asking for too much.
01:27Let me ask you this question, Dave.
01:29So Robert Kraft had a team that was in the Super Bowl ten times.
01:32They were hosting playoff games all the time.
01:35Why did he spend the fewest amount of money over the last ten years of any owner in the NFL?
01:41Because he had the best coach and the best quarterback.
01:45No, but you can surround a team.
01:48Saying that a player has to perpetually prove it on the field is not what the market is dictating.
01:54The players have leverage.
01:55They are using it just like the owners have had leverage forever.
01:58That's the way the market works.
02:00Well, you can get away with it because Tom Brady goes, I'll take less.
02:03It won't cost me much.
02:04And then you're like, well, why do I – we have to pay everybody.
02:06And Bill will find guys.
02:07So he was able to do it that way because you had a quarterback that was willing to take less
02:13and didn't really want to be at – you know, like – when I say take less, it was like,
02:18oh, okay, I don't have to always set the market.
02:20And then you had a coach that would be like, all right, we'll move on from guys
02:24and I'll find another guy to replace him.
02:26But that's kind of not how the league works no more, right?
02:30I mean, you kind of look at the league – look at the Kansas City Chiefs, for example.
02:38Why did they trade Trent McDuffie if he's one of the top corners in the league?
02:42He's their own sheep.
02:43Yeah, because they didn't want to pay him.
02:45And they're probably like, all right, well, we got Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid.
02:49We can move on from him and we'll just find the next guy.
02:52And I think Shyam and I were talking about this off the air.
02:55I think it might be the fact of the Patriots – there might be willing to say,
03:03okay, we'll give you $105 million and fully guaranteed.
03:09But 15 of that might have like an asterisk next to it.
03:15Incentive-laden or –
03:16Yeah, injuries.
03:17Attendance, yeah.
03:17You have to play a certain amount of games to get to that $105.
03:20Right.
03:21Otherwise, the base guarantee is like $85 or $90 million.
03:24Right.
03:24My question is why do fans, myself included, go ballistic against John Henry and the Red Sox
03:33when they're not a top-five spending team?
03:36Yet it is August 20th.
03:39We have a team that was in the Super Bowl last year.
03:42And the New England Patriots in a major market with a massive, rabid fan base are 25th in cash spending.
03:48We've said this for the last couple –
03:49Because people like Rob Kraft.
03:51But people hate the Henrys.
03:52They hate them.
03:53But remove that from it.
03:55But you can't.
03:55You can't.
03:56Just for purposes of this conversation, Christian Gonzalez, we all believe, is a great player.
04:00Right.
04:01Was your –
04:02Maybe two to three guys in the Super Bowl that played at or above their level.
04:07Right.
04:08And he's asking for fair market value.
04:10And people are siding with the owner in some cases saying that the player should just sack up and play.
04:14I don't get it.
04:15That's only because of that percentage thing that was leaked out.
04:18But, no, I think the – I think fans just – I think Courtney and Wiggy are right.
04:23Like, they hate the Henrys and like the Kraft.
04:24And I know you want to take that out.
04:26And when we're talking about this, we can.
04:28But fans just inherently can't remove one from the other.
04:31And I think that's the only reason they're siding with Kraft at all.
04:34And Wiggy said this for so long.
04:36He's like, nobody has brought us more championships in the last, you know, 20 years than Robert Kraft.
04:44But then you also have to take into consideration that the Henrys have also brought us championships.
04:49Right.
04:50And Wiggy has always kind of been on the right side of history when it comes to this.
04:54That the Henrys, for some reason, are just not liked by a lot of Boston fans.
04:59Right.
04:59And whether it's just because –
05:01They own the globe.
05:02Because people always throw that in there.
05:05They're very liberal.
05:05Yes.
05:06It's – I don't know what it is, but the hate for them is so much more vicious than any
05:11other owner in this city.
05:13Because, like, this deal should be – should have been done, as Curtis pointed out, 48 hours after the Witherspoon
05:19deal.
05:19Right.
05:20You can't even really argue, like, the durability thing because Gonzalez had, like, a tough injury his rookie year.
05:25But since then, the last two years, he's played 30 games, which, by the way, is more than Witherspoon has
05:30played over the last two years.
05:31And so, it should be very simple.
05:33Witherspoon got that contract.
05:35Give him, like, a million-dollar more guaranteed.
05:37Give him $5 million more on the actual full value of the contract.
05:40Boom.
05:40The deal is done.
05:41He's on the field and we're cooking.
05:43The people that cite a cap in the NFL as to why there's not a hard time, every team has
05:48a cap.
05:49They're 25th.
05:50And the cap doesn't really exist.
05:51Mahomes is getting paid, like, $60 million and the Chiefs created, like, $30 million in cap space.
05:55Like, what are we doing?
05:56So, if there is a cap, why over a decade are they dead last in cash spending?
06:00There's 31 other teams.
06:01All of those teams have a salary cap.
06:04The Rams continue to spend money.
06:05Right.
06:05It's not about that.
06:06God, people.
06:06They spent less money because they had Tom Brady and Bill Belichick.
06:10But they haven't had Tom Brady for almost a decade now.
06:12And they spent more money.
06:13Right.
06:15They spent more money, like, twice.
06:172019 was the final year.
06:18Right.
06:19So, seven seasons.
06:19So, 2020 was the COVID year.
06:21That's like you throw that away.
06:22And then, 2021, they spent money when they brought in Hunter Henry, John O. Smith, Matthew Judon.
06:29And then, they didn't spend money again until Mike Vrabel came when they spent it on Milton Williams.
06:32Yes.
06:32Right.
06:33Right.
06:33Right.
06:33Right.
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