As Week 1 nears, star cornerback Christian Gonzalez remains without a contract extension, and when speaking with reporters earlier this week, he did admit that he was frustrated by the way things have been going.
“I mean, it’s frustrating, but I mean, I’m focused on the season,” Gonzalez said on Tuesday. “I’m focused on here now and doing what I got to do, and I’m out here to compete and get better.”
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Head coach Mike Vrabel was asked about Gonzalez’s comments, saying that he had no reaction to him being frustrated, but said he understands where he might be coming from.
“I have conversations with Christian, and I understand that this is probably something that’s difficult,” he said after the Patriots‘ preseason finale loss to the Browns. “I’ve never been in that position to this extent. Try to treat it with class, but he and I communicate, and our players are always free to feel how they feel. They just have to stay patient and just hope that we can work toward some kind of agreement.”
Gonzalez is seeking a contract that will make him the highest-paid cornerback in the league, but a concerning update from ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Thursday ahead of the preseason game detailed how the team hasn’t offered him a deal that matches the $33 million annually Seattle is giving corner Devon Witherspoon.
“But Witherspoon has established the benchmark, and the Patriots haven’t gone there, and they weren’t there before, and they don’t appear to be going there right now, and they’re off on the two sides of money,” Schefter said on The Pat McAfee Show. “But the Patriots and Gonzalez haven’t been close… I think they want to pay Christian Gonzalez, but they’re obviously not in the same neighborhood right now and haven’t been. Thus, his disappointment.”
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This article originally appeared on Patriots Wire: Mike Vrabel addresses Christian Gonzalez’s contract frustrations
