The New England Patriots fully intend on locking up quarterback Drake Maye and cornerback Christian Gonzalez.
"Well, we always try," Robert Kraft said at the NFL’s Annual Meetings on Monday, as transcribed by MassLive's Mark Daniels. “We have a salary cap, so we have a limit. So, we have to think (about) what’s best for the team in terms of timing, of the signing and of course, the earlier you do it, it’s believed it’s more economically satisfactory. But we leave that to Mike Vrabel, Elliot Wolf and our people making contract decisions. We’re lucky to have those two players and I hope and believe they’ll be with us for the long term.”
Maye, 23, won't be eligible for an extension until next offseason, but there is little doubt that one will get done as soon as humanly possible after he finished second in the voting for NFL MVP in 2025 and led the organization to Super Bowl LX.
Gonzalez, 23, on the other hand, is extension eligible this offseason. The Patriots have waited longer than some anticipated to get something done, but they still have him under contract for one more season and hold the right to exercise his fifth-year option for another. Gonzalez is expected to be among the league's highest-paid cornerbacks whenever he does sign.
The Patriots will ultimately have to reset the market at two of the priciest positions in the league, but that's the reward for rostering two young superstars -- with one well on his way to becoming the league's premiere shutdown cornerback and the other already serving as one of its faces.
It's hard to feel bad, you know?
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