Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - ALERT: Eliot Wolf REVEALS Latest on Christian Gonzalez Extension Talks!

Starting point is 00:00:00 Elliot Wolf gives us the latest on the Christian Gonzalez talks, and I have a feeling it's not going to satisfy everyone. This is Lockdown Patriots. You are Locked on Patriots, your daily New England Patriots podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. What's happening? I am your host, Nick Cattels. On today's show, we give you the names of guys that had their stock drop after Eagles

Starting point is 00:00:32 week in the second segment. fortunately several players positively impacted their chances of making this roster last week as well. But first, Elliot Wolf gives some revealing thoughts on the Christian Gonzalez negotiation and more. Now, Elliot Wolf met with the media on Tuesday. I would not say there were a ton of revelations, but there were three or four interesting answers from Wolf to the media. We begin with Christian Gonzalez. obviously contract negotiations have continued between the player and the franchise. And a lot of the stuff that Wolf said on Tuesday was spinning the wheels.

Starting point is 00:01:10 Just saying the same old, same old. We want to get a deal done. We appreciate Christian Gonzalez. He's been a professional. He's an elite player at his position, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. But there were two. There were two comments that stood out to me. The first comment was to a question of whether or not the Patriots

Starting point is 00:01:30 understood clearly what Christian Gonzalez's quote-unquote stance was in these talks, i.e. are they clear as to what Gonzalez is asking for? Wolf answered yes. That's it. One word answer, yes. So the Patriots are clear as far as what Gonzalez wants from the team. there does not seem to be some kind of communicational breakdown here during this negotiation. And when you pair that first answer with the second answer, it tells us something. I'm just trying to figure out what that something is.

Starting point is 00:02:12 We go back to the beginning of training camp. Robert Kraft told the media that the Patriots had a deal on the table that would make Christian Gonzalez the highest paid cornerback in the history of football. It's a great question. I think it was Tom Kern who asked it on Tuesday, which was, okay,

Starting point is 00:02:32 a month or two later, is that still the case? Is that still the case where the Patriots have an offer on the table that would make Gonzalez the highest paid corner in football? Now, this was an important question.

Starting point is 00:02:48 Again, I think it was Kern, might have been Andrew Callahan, but a very, very important question that was asked. since the time Robert Kraft spoke with the media, Devin Witherspoon of the Seahawks came to an agreement on the deal, right, that he came to an agreement on with Seattle. And that would bump up the average per year money.

Starting point is 00:03:07 That would bump up the guaranteed money. And so things could have changed. What Kraft said a month or two ago could be different than the reality currently because of that Witherspoon deal. However, Elliot Wolf. he made it sound like there isn't much of a difference in that there is still that type of money on the table. So is Robert Kraft's comment about making Christian Gonzalez the highest paid corner in football, is that still the case? Elliot Wolf said yes. So when you start to think about

Starting point is 00:03:47 this, they know what Gonzalez wants. They're also telling us that the offer on the table would make Gonzalez the highest paid corner in football. So what's the holdup? Because you would think that Gonzalez wants to be the highest paid corner in football. That is clear to the Patriots. The Patriots are saying, we have an offer on the table that would make him the highest paid player at that position in this league. So what's the holdup? Does Gonzalez want more money than what would be considered the best deal at the moment? that position in the NFL. Does Gonzalez want even more average per year?

Starting point is 00:04:30 Does Gonzalez want even more guaranteed money in total? Or is the case that the details of this structure is what the issue is. And I feel like that is the case. Going back to what Robert Kraft said, we mentioned on this podcast at the time, there are different ways to define richest cornerback in football. You can look at the totality of the deal, just the total money, including the funny money. You can look at average per year. Is it $33 million like Devin Witherspoon?

Starting point is 00:05:05 Are you offering Christian Gonzalez $33.2 million annually in new money? And is that what the Patriots are talking about? Is it the guarantees? Devin Witherspoon is now set to make $101 million guaranteed. There is some funny language. and technically Witherspoon is really only guaranteed the first two years of his contract. And so you could also mess around with those numbers.

Starting point is 00:05:33 But the end all be all here is you can you can mess with the language. You can define contracts in different ways in the NFL. And so the Patriots, both of these things can be true. That Gonzalez, his stance is clear and he wants to be paid as the highest paid cornerback in football, but Christian Gonzalez might want that to mean he's getting more money up front than the Patriots are willing to put on the table. So that's where the semantics games get played. The fact that, you know, there are details of this structure that we don't know about.

Starting point is 00:06:16 Witherspoon is going to make upwards of $60 million in 2026 and 2027. We discussed this when the Witherspoon. deal was done. You can go back and watch that podcast. But if the Patriots are not willing to give Gonzalez $62.63 million in the next two years, $2627, when Gonzalez is set to make about $20 million, that's where the problem could lie. So I don't think we got any more answers as far as if this is going to get done anytime soon. But it was interesting that Wolf said that both they understand Gonzalez's stance and they clearly get it. And also that they still consider the contract on the table, a contract that would

Starting point is 00:07:01 make Gonzalez the highest paid corner in all of football. I've said for months, I do not think the Patriots are going to pay both Gonzalez and Drake May in the same offseason. And when you go towards 2027, we all know that May is due a gigantic payday. And the Patriots do not want to pay both of those guys in the same offseason. off season, and Elliot Wolf confirmed that on Tuesday. Wolf said, quote, it's about a cash budget. We're very aware of the timing of these things.

Starting point is 00:07:33 We're cognizant of having to plan for that, i.e., the translation, we're not going to give up $100 million plus in guaranteed money next offseason to Gonzalez in May. It's not happening. And by the way, I know there's going to be plenty of people in Boston media. who are jumping all over the, it's about a cash budget. I'm going to tell you right now, there are not a lot of teams in football that in the same offseason would pay an elite cornerback and an elite quarterback

Starting point is 00:08:06 guaranteed money up front in the same off season. It's just not going to happen. You're not going to see the Kansas City Chiefs go out there and pay Patrick Mahomes what they had to pay him and also pay a premium position at the very tippity top of the market. It's not just a New England thing. it's an all of football thing. So I'm not surprised.

Starting point is 00:08:28 Every team has a budget. And the Patriots have a budget just like the other 31 teams. And is the Patriots budget less? I've gone through this. I'm not going to go through it again. You believe what I believe. You believe what you believe. I believe what I believe.

Starting point is 00:08:45 And I'm just telling you, when Elliott Wolf has asked the question about May and Gonzalez in, you know, how much the Drake May deal next offseason would impact other business. He is not the only GM president of football operations, whatever his title is. He's not the only guy that would stand up there and say, we've got a cash budget. Now, you might say it differently, and Wolf probably should have said it differently, because he would catch a lot of a lot less criticism. But when you look at this and you say it's about a cash budget, he's saying we're not going to give a hundred,

Starting point is 00:09:21 $120 some odd million dollars, $150 million in cash in the same offseason to two players. And again, I don't think any team in the league would do that. Maybe there's been an example of it, but I don't think many, if any, teams would be willing to put that type of money into two players in the same off season. I just don't see it. Wolf also said that he's confident that the team is. gaining momentum and talks with Gonzalez. And I would imagine

Starting point is 00:09:55 Devin Witherspoon helps that. As far as Mike Vrable's depth comment on Saturday night, which by the way, I did not take as a shot at Wolf. I took it as reality. And Wolf went through some of that, said every season is different. We've had some injuries here over the last couple of weeks that

Starting point is 00:10:11 thinned things out. We were pretty lucky last year. We talked about that on the most recent pod. Every year is different. Every position is different. This time of year is a great time to work the phones. We actually talked about that on Sunday's bonus pod. That the injury luck was fantastic last year for the Patriots and already in camp, that's not necessarily the case. Wolf also admitted the obvious that the 2024 draft didn't

Starting point is 00:10:36 help as much as they had hoped it would help. And look, you can live with one bad draft, but you can't live with what happened several times with this organization. The fact is, they've had way too many bad drafts in recent years, including 2024. And we also have to remember a lot of the free agents that were signed by the Patriots are older players. That impacts the depth of the team in the long-term depth. We also have to remember that the 2026 draft is not full of immediate impact players. And that's not a Patriots thing. That's really just the 2026 draft was not thought of.

Starting point is 00:11:16 of very highly. All right, coming up, stock up after the critical Eagles week. This is Lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, now the number one sports podcast network, your team every day. Running a business shouldn't feel like you're trying to connect a bunch of systems that were never designed to work together, one app for accounting, another for inventory, another for sales, and somehow none of them talk to each other. That's where Odu comes in. Odo is an all-in-one business management software that brings every part of your business together in one powerful platform from sales and accounting. It's an inventory and marketing.

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Starting point is 00:12:17 Great organizations win because I, operations matter. We've seen it time and time again in New England, and that's why you should get Odu. Try for free today at Odu.com slash lockdown. That's O'DOO.com slash locked on. Thank you for making us your first listen and for being an everydayer. Just transparency here. I am recording this pod for 25 Eastern Time exactly right now. And the Patriots still are not off the practice field. Guys are set to talk, including Rishin Gonzalez. Ryan Cowden is also set to talk, but I had to record this pod at this time because of something personal. So I waited as long as I could, but here I am. So if there's anything that comes out past 430 Eastern time, I'm sure we'll be all over it at some point on Wednesday to go along with more podcasts as we continue throughout this week. All right. Speaking of other podcasts, prior podcasts, I talked about this Eagles week last week being the most critical week of camp. And most of the opportunities at this point are now dried up. There's not a whole heck of a lot that you can do this week, next week, to sell the coaching

Starting point is 00:13:34 staff on the idea of keeping you on the 53-man roster when they break from this camp. So let's look at some names that I believe absolutely unequivocally helped their stock last week against the Eagles. Let's start with Safety John Saunders Jr. In the game, Saturday night. Saunders had a great rep where he he read a bootleg play action rollout in the first quarter. And because Saunders was all over it, it resulted in an incomplete pass because if the ball was thrown, I believe it was Andy Dalton. If Andy Dalton actually threw the football, Saunders likely comes down with a pick. Late in the second quarter, Saunders was responsible for a pass breakup. I also thought he made not one, but two.

Starting point is 00:14:22 good open field tackles. And on top of all of that, you look at what he has done throughout this camp. He had four interceptions in camp leading into this week's practices. And then on Monday, he ends up getting his fifth interception of camp against Tommy DeVito. He is a ranging ball hawk type safety. I think he fits the system. I think he's done everything that he possibly could do. to make this football team.

Starting point is 00:14:55 And right now, John Saunders is on my 53-man roster, and I feel like he sealed the deal against the Eagles and those joint practices, and then what he did in the preseason game on Saturday night. Another defensive back that I thought sealed his fate in a positive way was Kindle Vildor. And I know I've had fun with his name, but I thought Kindle Vildor last week had a good week.

Starting point is 00:15:19 And when you look at Saturday night in that preseason game, game, one drive alone in the second quarter likely, likely keeps Vildor on this 53 man. In the second quarter, there was an Eagles drive. We're on first down. Vildor almost comes up with the interception. It ends up being a past breakup. Now, the play didn't count inevitably because Gabe Accus got called for a roughing the passer call. But first down on this second quarter drive by Philly, there's Vildor.

Starting point is 00:15:51 near pick, pass breakup. Then you have another first down because of the ACUS penalty. And on that play, which was a play action, Vildor almost comes up with another interception. And then two plays later on third down, it's third and 10. And there is Vildor again with a past breakup. So in the span of like four plays, Vildor had two near interceptions and three past breakups.

Starting point is 00:16:23 And you're just calling his name over and over and over again. And to me, I look at that and I say, that's a dude making plays. And I also thought he made some plays, even though Thursday's joint practice did not finish great for him. I thought on balance Wednesday and Thursday, Vildor had a couple of good joint practices. Again, didn't finish great. But the majority of those practices, he was good. Good. Another guy. Let's move to the offense. Land Larison, 74 total yards on Saturday night, including a 28-yard screen. Shout out to Jacob Rizzy, by the way, who had a tough night on Saturday night.

Starting point is 00:16:59 But on that screenplay, got to the second level and threw a very nice block. But Larison, 74 total yards, I thought he had multiple tough runs. And I know Mike Vrable in the post game called it something like a gritty performance, but Larison had a number of tough runs. He did have some issues with past protection versus the Blitz. That's something that means a lot, right? We've talked about it with Trayvion Henderson since the beginning of last year. If you want to be on this football team, if you want to be the third back on this roster, you've got to be at least good against blitzes.

Starting point is 00:17:32 You've got to be good in past protection. That's the one thing to me that could hold Larison back. But he's also working on special team. So I thought Land Larison helped himself. More from my stock up list coming up. But first, don't forget, if you're watching us on YouTube, click that thumbs up, give us a like. Don't forget to throw your comment in as well.

Starting point is 00:17:55 And don't forget to subscribe. Those likes and those comments, help us with the algorithm. And our subscription goal is 11,000 subscribers by week one, September 9th, Wednesday night in Seattle against the Seahawks. Appreciate every single one of you who watch and or listen to this. this podcast and to this YouTube channel. All right. Efton Chisholm obviously helped himself on Saturday night.

Starting point is 00:18:19 And I would say after the Kishon booty trade yesterday, that Chisholm is pretty safe on this roster. I do anticipate the Patriots taking six receivers into the season out of camp. Chisholm had four catches on four targets against the Eagles, 45 yards, include a 24-yard catch on third down. It included an eight-yard play. he kind of ducked the defender and picked up some yak, kind of reminded you of Julian Edelman.

Starting point is 00:18:48 I'm not telling you, Efton Chisholm is Julian Edelman, but that type of move after the catch was very Edelman-esque. Efton Chisholm had a good night. Jared Wilson. Now, there's no doubt he's your starting center, right? But we're just talking stock up, not necessarily all of these guys, you know, looking at are they going to make the roster? Are they not going to make the roster?

Starting point is 00:19:09 Jared Wilson, again, your starting center had a strong, week against the Eagles. In joint practices, he was three and one against Jordan Davis on the one-on-ones. And I thought he played well during those joint practice team drills as well. So if you're looking at Jared Wilson against bigger, beefier defensive tackles, super talented guys, Wilson held his own against Davis. Huge. Somebody else, Michael Wenow. Again, no doubt he's making this roster. No doubt he's your starting right guard. But a Wenu during those joint practices was 3 and O against Jalen Carter and was good in the team drills for the most part.

Starting point is 00:19:51 So I thought Jared Wilson and Michael Wenu had themselves a very good week. Milton Williams, he was disruptive in the joint practices, so he's looking good. Kyle Williams, I thought, his joint practice touchdown against Sean Wade. And then Saturday night, he had a 69-yard touchdown catch. If you look at the film, he was open another three or four. Times. I thought Tommy DeVito missed him late on a comeback route early in the game. I thought that he just did not see Kyle Williams a couple of times for some big plays, or he was just again late. I think he was late twice. I mean, you watch that film.

Starting point is 00:20:30 Mina Kimes said it from ESPN. If you watch the film, Kyle Williams could have finished Saturday night with like 150 yards receiving if the quarterback had better timing and or made better throws. So I thought Kyle Williams has stock up. And again, I would expect six receivers on this team when they break camp. Chisholm and Williams both make it. Not everyone, though, helped themselves against the Eagles last week. That's coming up next. This is Lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Today's episode is brought by Indeed. We talk a lot about the chaos of the NFL season, but let's talk about the chaos in your own office. Deadline stacking up. Inbox disaster. And that one crucial position you need to fill still sitting open. When the pressure is on, this is a job for Indeed, sponsored jobs. You shouldn't just be crossing your fingers hoping the right person stumbles onto your post. Indeed, sponsored jobs helps you reach the people who actually fit your specific needs, skills, experience, and location. And get this. In the minute I'll spend talking to you right now, companies like yours made 20, 87 hires on Indeed globally, according to their data.

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Starting point is 00:22:23 I want to start off with Chad Muma. Now, I know he's been dealing with an injury or whatever, but, you know, Chad Muma, both preseason games, he's looked very slow. He looked slow against the Colts. He looked slow against the Eagles. His tackling in space has been atrocious on Saturday night. Mumma was responsible for giving up 30 yards on two plays because of his bad tackling and open space. And he also was not good enough in the run game.

Starting point is 00:22:49 So at the beginning of camp, MoMA looked like he could make this roster. He looked like he could be the third linebacker on the depth chart. He has fallen off a cliff the past two or three weeks. KJ. Britt, fascinating. You know, at the beginning of camp, didn't get off to a great start. then he goes into Colts week. And during that Colts preseason game, he makes back-to-back splash plays.

Starting point is 00:23:15 And you say, well, he helped himself and he played much better than Mooma did. So now Brit looks like he could make the roster. But then on Saturday night against the Eagles, not good. And it seems like Brits Kryptonite is defending screens. He gave up not one but two 14-yard plays on screen passes, including one touchdown.

Starting point is 00:23:37 So Brit does not look like the guy, sideline to sideline, cover dudes in the flat, et cetera, et cetera, does not look like that guy. And it's been very up and down. And, you know, he might make the roster just because there's not enough answers at, you know, offball linebacker. It depends on Namdi O.B. Izoor and Khalil Jacobs is, is Khalil Jacobs going to be healthy? But, you know, Chad Muma, I would say, is behind KJ Britt, but it's not because Brit's been awesome. again, good game against the Colts, but he fell right back off against the Eagles. James Hudson, do I even need to talk about this guy? Wolf on Saturday night.

Starting point is 00:24:17 He was not great at tackle to beginning camp. Patriots moved him into guard. He was even worse at guard during camp. He goes out there on Saturday night and frankly embarrasses himself. I would argue he was the worst player on the field. Now he's back at tackle because of the Marcus Bryant injury. but James Hudson, I think it's an uphill battle for him to make this roster. Speaking of Marcus Bryant, he makes the stock downlist.

Starting point is 00:24:44 I thought he had a terrible week against Philly. The Patriots moved him from left tackle to right tackle. He does not look comfortable. I thought he was abused a number of times during joint practices. Then he goes into the preseason game. He's not good before he gets injured. Now he's got an ankle injury. So Marcus Bryant, who had a pretty good camp, relatively speaking, man, man, did he have a tough week against the Eagles last week?

Starting point is 00:25:12 Gabe Accus, another guy. He just did not do a lot in the joint practices. I did not hear a lot about him when I looked at the defense and watched the defense. And granted, I watched more offense, much more offense than defense and those joint practices. When I watched, he didn't do anything. He didn't do much in the one-on-ones. and then he went out there on Saturday night and did pretty much nothing. He wasn't very good against a run.

Starting point is 00:25:38 And he had one pressure when he was unblocked. Other than that, he was invisible. Now, he had a good practice on Monday. Hopefully he's going to start turning things around. But when you have trouble containing and holding the edge and when you're not getting really any pass rush, no Bueno. Now, I'm going to be more patient with him. I'm just looking at it right now, and I'm going off what happened last week and his stock. Maybe he figures it out over the next few weeks.

Starting point is 00:26:07 He's a rookie. Got a late start, as we know. But if you're just looking at it in a vacuum, Gayback is his stock down against the Eagles. A couple of defensive linemen interior. Isaiah Aiton and Jeremiah Farms, I thought their stocks are down. Now, Jeremiah Farms can rush the passer. There's not much doubt about that. I mean, he can get after the quarterback, but he got bulldozed a couple of times in the run game on Saturday night.

Starting point is 00:26:36 And if you're trying to make this roster, he's towards the latter part of the defensive tackle depth chart. If you're trying to make this roster, you've got to be able to defend the run some. And he just did not do that on Saturday. And he really hasn't done it since he's been with New England off and on. Isaiah Iitin, same thing. Just wasn't good enough against the run on Saturday night. So those two guys, I think they're in trouble. And here's a sneaky one.

Starting point is 00:27:07 I want to stick a pin in this. I'm not panicked just yet, but I do have some concern. Elijah Verit Tucker. Elijah Veritucker did not have a good week against the Eagles. Did not think he had a good week. I thought he was beat by Jordan Davis. I thought he was beat by Morrow Ojomo. And, you know, there was some trouble from time to time with handling stunts, some games up front.

Starting point is 00:27:34 And I would say, given the expectations, Vera Tucker needs to be better. He's going to start at left guard. And if he ends up, you know, figuring things out, he's going to be arguably the best offensive linemen on this team. Again, we're just looking at last week. And I thought Vera Tucker, he had a tough week against the Eagles. And, you know, we'll see what happens when we get into the regular season. But even if it's like a 10% chance, we do have to look at this and say, well, maybe it's Rust. Maybe it's, you know, he just wasn't quite ready against the Davises and a Jomo's of the world.

Starting point is 00:28:11 And he's going to still work himself into shape. But we also could look at it and say that maybe he's just not the same guy after all the injuries. So not a good week for Vera Tucker. Stock down for him. He's still going to start, but he needs to be better. All right, that wraps up this edition of Lockdown Patriots. Reach out to me on Twitter at Nick C. Radio. Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe on YouTube.

Starting point is 00:28:36 And if you're watching on YouTube, go and check out the Lockdown NFL 24-7 stream, the first of its kind. Otherwise, you can make sure to check out Lockdown Fantasy Football with Fabs and Marcus for your daily fantasy football info. everybody have a great day and we'll see you next time

Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - ALERT: Eliot Wolf REVEALS Latest on Christian Gonzalez Extension Talks!

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