00:00Can we get Christian Gonzalez, his trainer on the phone,
00:03find out whether he likes his Italians toasted or not?
00:08I wonder, Courtney made a good point earlier.
00:09I don't know if he's still in good standing this morning.
00:12No way.
00:13Well, I don't know.
00:13Do you think that was an authorized phone call to Sports Hub,
00:17or do you think that was, he went rogue?
00:19I mean, if he didn't learn after the tweet,
00:21because the tweet was deleted pretty quickly when it came to the trainer,
00:24to then go on a radio show and continue the conversation,
00:28he's got to be on the outs.
00:29Well, unless that's the message that the player wants out there,
00:34that it's just that essentially what he said is that they're offering him
00:40Witherspoon money and it's just the terms that are unacceptable.
00:43I don't know what that means.
00:45Yeah, I have no clue.
00:46What does that mean?
00:47The terms are unacceptable.
00:49Usually when you think that, could he be talking just that,
00:52when he says terms, could he mean the actual money?
00:56Because when I think terms, I think the length of the deal.
00:59Like, that instantly popped in my mind.
01:01He was trying to get it in the contract that he could be hurt throughout
01:05training camp and then play week one every year.
01:07Maybe that's the term.
01:10But it must be what Devin was talking about with us when we were at the radio
01:13telephone.
01:13The language?
01:14Yeah, that, like, it's injury guarantees, this is protected, like, because...
01:19And a lot of that, Curtis, to kind of your point, is about the guaranteed money.
01:25Right.
01:25Because there's a lot of that language.
01:26So, I mean, it is interesting, though, because, like, it feels like there's this ebb and flow
01:32where we'll think something is happening because there's big reporting out there,
01:36and then there will be a Schefter bomb where it's like they're nowhere near it,
01:41and then someone local will say they're close, and then someone national will say they're...
01:45You know what I'm saying?
01:46Like...
01:46Yeah, I just don't...
01:47You're not going to get any indication.
01:50Like, you know, Mike Vrabel's not going to say anything.
01:53We tried.
01:54I get it.
01:55Why would he?
01:56You're negotiating.
01:58You don't want to...
01:59I mean, I guess I...
02:01Did you say, Curtis, that the trainer, quote, finger quotes, trainer,
02:07said that Christian Gonzalez was bothered immensely by Robert Kraft going public
02:14with what the offer was in the form of the highest offer ever given to a player?
02:18Yes.
02:18That bothered him at the start of care.
02:20So, that's probably why nobody will say anything else on either side, I guess.
02:26I mean, you're a week away.
02:28Mm-hmm.
02:30Does...
02:31Tell me, because you played the game, does it interfere when it comes to game planning?
02:38Oh, yeah.
02:39Yeah, it definitely does.
02:40There's no way they're close.
02:41This deal's not getting done.
02:42No, but does...
02:43I'm just asking.
02:43Mike Vrabel today...
02:45Yep.
02:46Game planning with that team for a week from tomorrow night...
02:49Yep.
02:49...in Seattle...
02:50Yep.
02:51Is it interfering with that game plan if he doesn't know what's going to happen with
02:55Christian Gonzalez?
02:55Yeah, because now you've got to say to yourself, okay, all right, is it now Marcus Jones starting
03:03at corner, and if so, okay, what are his strengths?
03:05What are his weaknesses?
03:07How do we match up against JSN?
03:09Do we have to be more of a zone team?
03:10Do we not...
03:11Can we not blitz as much because we're not going to have Christian Gonzalez?
03:15And so now that's going to put us in a compromising position on the back end if we're blitzing
03:19and we need to play man coverage?
03:20Like, so all of that is part of how you're preparing for the game plan.
03:24But I think, Courtney, you brought this up yesterday, or somebody brought it up yesterday.
03:30The Devin Witherspoon deal was done, like, what, two weeks ago, two and a half weeks ago?
03:35Like, there's no way.
03:36You are a week away from the season.
03:38You have two deals that have laid out the framework of what the cornerback position was.
03:44And the guaranteed money, and I know Curtis always brings that point up, at signing.
03:48Shyam, I believe Trent McDuffie was $50 million in guaranteed money at signing,
03:55and Devin Witherspoon was $59 million in guaranteed money at signing.
03:59And we both know one was $100 million and the other one was $101 million.
04:03There's no way that they're close with Christian Gonzalez because we already know the framework
04:08of those two deals.
04:08Well, the trainer just said they were there.
04:11So, I mean, you know, maybe he's lying, or I'm not speaking for Christian Gonzalez.
04:19I don't know.
04:19But the only reason why I say that, Greg, is because when the framework is laid out,
04:24as soon as Devin Witherspoon signed, we all thought...
04:28Done deal.
04:29Done deal.
04:30So, how...
04:31If we just keep getting further and further away from when Witherspoon signed, how are
04:36we almost there?
04:37Because the numbers haven't changed in Witherspoon's deal.
04:41They did speak, according to Florio, over the weekend.
04:44And when I asked Vrabel about it, he didn't say, that's nonsense.
04:47I mean, he didn't say much, but...
04:49They're speaking.
04:50So, maybe they made some progress.
04:53On this, I have just a question for everyone.
04:56Do you think the Patriots have had any conversations with Drake May's agent just to get a baseline
05:02of what an understanding would be next offseason?
05:05I believe so, yeah.
05:06No way.
05:07Yeah, I think so.
05:08Because if you're budgeting, right?
05:10Cash budget, Elliot Wolfe.
05:11If I ran the Patriots, I'd want to just sort of have a ballpark understanding.
05:15Oh, yeah.
05:16I don't know how agents work, though.
05:17So, like, would agents sit down and do that?
05:20Fill it up.
05:21They might tell you.
05:22And then, as soon as you hear the number, you hang the phone up in panic.
05:26Complete panic.
05:27You're Robert Graff.
05:28It could be such a wide array, like, of possible numbers for Drake May.
05:32Like, I don't...
05:34Also, if the team isn't...
05:35And I don't mean to call them stupid, but if they're not smart enough to identify a person's
05:40market by prior contracts, i.e. the McDuffie-Witherspoon one, why would we expect them to talk
05:46to Drake May's agent?
05:47Now, here's an interesting suggestion from a 617 texter, which we haven't really talked
05:53about yet.
05:54Is it possible that Gonzo wants to be Gonzo and wants to be out of here and just doesn't
06:02want to be the bad guy, so wants to put that on the page?
06:04Doesn't he own a home here?
06:06Just bought one, I think.
06:07But also, if that was the case, why wouldn't they have, like, shopped him in the...
06:10We would have at least heard rumors that they were talking about trading him in the offseason,
06:14right?
06:14Yeah.
06:15If that was the case?
06:15I don't get that.
06:17I think that he really wants to be the one to say it.
06:20No, but the Patriots would have been shopping him, right?
06:22Like, that's...
06:23If he had asked for the Patriots...
06:24Similar to the Connor Hellebuck situation, right, Greg?
06:26Where Hellebuck asked the organization for trade, kept it quiet, didn't want to be a
06:30distraction.
06:31Yeah.
06:31But, like, we would hear something...
06:33And then it's coming out now because training camp is here and he wants you to know, hey,
06:36I don't want to be playing here anymore.
06:37Yeah, but we would know that the Patriots were at least shopping him around.
06:39Right.
06:40And why would he want to be gone, like, prior to all of this, right?
06:43We all just thought...
06:44The T.
06:45He was just in the Super Bowl.
06:47Yeah, we all just thought, okay, it's all about the new deal.
06:49And now, you know, you start to figure out, like, all right, what's going on?
06:54And I know Shyam had the one theory of, like, all right, maybe he wants to really set the
06:59market and go to $40 million, which you would...
07:01I mean, the highest paid corner in the league is making, what, $33 million and Devin Witherspoon?
07:05You got to be...
07:06Like, to go $7 million above that, it's like, all right, you're really stretching it here,
07:10bro.
07:11And we've heard him say, I know my worth.
07:15We've seen the little subliminals about getting the deal done.
07:19So, I think that he wants to be here or wanted to be here.
07:22I just think that whatever this money situation is, and I think, you know, Shyam and I kind
07:29of share a mind on this one, is where they don't believe, and when I say they, the Patriots,
07:35they don't believe he's worth $101 million in guarantee.
07:40They might say, we'll give you $91 million in guarantee, and then you can make X amount
07:44of dollars.
07:44Now, let me ask you, if it doesn't work out with the Patriots, what would Lane Kiffin
07:48pay him?
07:50LSU's got a budget.
07:52They'd probably give him his whatever he wanted.
07:54Think about how much you could own in Baton Rouge with $30 million.
07:58All right.
07:59Well, should anything happen, we will do our best to let you hear it first here on Boston
08:07Sports Original, WEEI.
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