- 5 weeks ago
WEEI Patriots reporter Justin Turpin joins the show to discuss the Christian Gonzalez contract, what happens if Gonzo misses any time, and his concerns about the team with 2 weeks to go before the season starts.
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00:00In studio with us right now, Mr. Top-Tier Terp, who has been covering this New England Patriots team all
00:06throughout the preseason and so much more.
00:10Terp, first of all, thanks for coming in, my man. Appreciate it.
00:12Of course. Thanks for having me on, guys.
00:13What's up, Terp?
00:14What's going on? I was just telling Teddy that I was working on something today about the depth of the
00:18Patriots,
00:18and I was telling him I was doing some Elijah Ponder research, and he was not fired up about that.
00:23Well, you had a good trivia question yesterday.
00:25You stumped me on a Ponder trivia question yesterday, Ted. You got that for Terp?
00:28Oh, Terp, what round was Ponder drafted?
00:33Undrafted.
00:34Oh!
00:35Yeah, undrafted.
00:36Terp knows. Come correct if Terp's here.
00:39Undrafted and played 15 games last year, and it certainly did not feel that way.
00:42Nope, nope, nope. That's scary.
00:44I want to know that he's in the games this year, if he's going to be starting.
00:48Good luck. You're not going to get much production out of that edge rush.
00:52I agree.
00:53And that's something that we've been talking about early in the offseason,
00:56and that they were kind of desperate in that regard.
00:59They gave Draymond Jones that three-year, almost $40 million deal,
01:02and he hasn't really been too impressive in training camp here.
01:05So you're hoping it was Ackes, then the whole holdout with him,
01:08and he got it done late, missed all of minicamp into training camp,
01:11and I just don't know how much you can expect from him.
01:13Obviously, a young player playing catch-up now,
01:16and the mistakes look coachable, but he has, like, what, two games on film?
01:20Yeah.
01:20There's not a whole lot to work around there.
01:22So top-tier Terp, you heard that Adam Schefter report that just came out
01:27when he was on the Pat McAfee show.
01:29What is your take on what Schefter had to say about this Gonzalez contract?
01:32Yeah, it's certainly not great, and it feels like this was the direction
01:34this was all going in.
01:36I think a lot of people thought after Witherspoon's deal got done
01:39that this was going to fall real quickly behind.
01:41And when it wasn't the case, when it wasn't done kind of in quick succession there,
01:46that's when eyebrows started being raised.
01:48It's like, okay, where is this thing, and how far apart are they?
01:51And listening to the Schefter report, as well as Elliott Wolfe the other day
01:54and Christian Gonzalez himself, when he was able to talk,
01:56when the helicopter wasn't flying over.
01:58Great video, by the way.
02:00Great video.
02:01What a tremendous metaphor.
02:02Excellent work.
02:03He's trying to, you know, he's first time really displaying frustration,
02:06and part of that could be that the deal's not done.
02:09And another part of that could be he's been answering these questions
02:11all offseason about his deal, and he's like, all right,
02:13how many more times are we going to do this, and at what point?
02:16Like, obviously, you know, the reporters there have a job to do,
02:18and everyone has been talking about this deal, so you have to ask about it.
02:21But he's probably like, all right, I've been saying the same thing.
02:23I've been saying how my team's going to negotiate it.
02:25I'm not talking about it through the media.
02:27But for the first time, I thought there was kind of a change of tone there
02:30where he was really displaying some frustration.
02:32So I think that parlayed with the Schefter report.
02:35Things aren't great in the first games, what, two weeks away?
02:39Do you think, Terp, it's semantics?
02:41So could the Patriots be offering him?
02:43You could do a five-year extension, right?
02:45There's no limit on it.
02:46Most of them are three or four, it seems like.
02:47Most of them, yeah.
02:48But I wonder if they're offering him, like, five-year deal,
02:51$150 million total money, but average annual value, that's only $30.
02:55So Schefter's technically right.
02:57They're not close to Witherspoon, and they're technically right.
02:59They're offering more money than anybody else has ever got.
03:01I think it was telling when Gonzalez was talking about it the other day.
03:04He said there are certain things in a contract that a player wants,
03:06and my team has made those clear.
03:08We have made those clear.
03:09They know what I want in this deal.
03:11So that, to me, is what everyone's been talking about.
03:13I think when you look at the deal, when it eventually gets done,
03:16if it eventually gets done, I mean, I still think it does,
03:18but you can't feel great about what's come out this week.
03:21It's probably going to look, in terms of the raw numbers,
03:24pretty similar to Witherspoon.
03:25It would probably be a little bit of a bump, like a million-dollar bump,
03:28whatever it may be.
03:29But it's what's inside of that deal
03:31and what's inside of the guaranteed money,
03:33the guaranteed signing, whatever it may be.
03:35That's where the devil's in the details a little bit,
03:37and that's where it'll vary and it'll be different
03:39from what the Witherspoon deal looks like.
03:40But I think when it's all said and done,
03:42I still don't think it looks all that far off.
03:45So if for some reason this thing doesn't get done,
03:48and worst-case scenario, Christian Gonzalez does not play.
03:52I don't think that would be the case, honestly.
03:54I really think he'd be out there.
03:56He's been out there, and maybe this is just me giving him
03:58a little bit too much credit for being out there
04:00all throughout training camp.
04:01But I know he wasn't out there for the joint practices,
04:03but he's had so many times where you've been like,
04:05okay, is he going to retaliate here?
04:07Is he not going to be out there?
04:08Starting day one of training camp, he's out there.
04:10Robert Kraft says they make the highest-paid,
04:13offer to make him the highest-paid corner in the league.
04:15He's still out there the next day.
04:16Obviously, came back from the injury,
04:17has been out there a full participant
04:19in these last two practices as well.
04:21I think he'd be out there.
04:22It's just how willing is he going to be to be physical?
04:25How willing is he going to be out there
04:27to do everything he can?
04:28I don't know.
04:29Maybe he'd still be protecting himself
04:30where that runs a tremendous risk.
04:32This same situation was the case for Sauce Carter last year.
04:36Sauce Carter wanted a new extension,
04:38and the Jets wouldn't give it to him.
04:40And he played, but he didn't play well.
04:43He was not very good.
04:45And they were still able to get two first-round draft picks
04:48out of him.
04:48So it can weigh on guys' minds, Rich,
04:51if you haven't got this deal done
04:53and you're just terrified of getting hurt.
04:56So you make business decisions out there.
04:58If I'm teams, I'm doing tasks.
05:01What am I doing?
05:02I'm doing just pitch plays after pitch plays
05:05after pitch plays after pitch plays
05:07and having running backs try and run over Christian Gonzalez
05:10to test whether or not he's going to be fully engaged or not.
05:15The Sauce Gardner thing is a little interesting too
05:17because he got a new deal in July
05:18that he signed before the season
05:20and then still got traded for the two picks.
05:22I wonder if the trade...
05:25I mean, obviously, the two picks...
05:26I'm not sure if they get the two picks for Gonzalez right now
05:29because of the contract situation.
05:30I think it is easier to kind of move that if he's on the contract.
05:33Yeah, yeah.
05:34No, that's a fair point.
05:34Depending on how a team looks at it.
05:36But I think that's the one difference between those.
05:38But, Terp, how big of a hit is it?
05:40Because, I mean, obviously,
05:41you've been watching these guys out there
05:43and you've seen them play without Christian Gonzalez
05:45and you know, because, as I said,
05:47pro football focus just rated them the best secondary in football.
05:51Now, obviously, seeing that Christian Gonzalez is a major part of that,
05:56how much of a drop is it if Christian Gonzalez isn't out there,
05:58especially in these first several games in Seattle?
06:02I mean, my God, the weapons that they're going to have going out there,
06:04how big of a drop is it in quality?
06:06It's a significant drop.
06:07I think we saw that last year, earlier in the year as well.
06:09Like, it's no secret that when you add one of the best corners in the league,
06:12arguably the best corner in the league,
06:14that your defense is going to take a hit when he's not out there.
06:16So, I think it's a significant drop-off.
06:18And I don't know if the preseason and the joint practice
06:20has really painted like a clear picture.
06:22Because if you're thinking about it with joint practice with Indianapolis,
06:25Alec Pierce, they just re-signed to a big money deal.
06:28He wasn't out there.
06:28Against the Eagles, their two guys,
06:31Demonte Smith and Makai Lemon,
06:32didn't participate in 11-on-11.
06:34So, you really haven't been able to get like a clear picture of that.
06:37So, I don't know if you can really tell right now,
06:39but I think we saw it earlier in the year last year.
06:41And to your point,
06:42if you're looking at the receivers and quarterbacks
06:44they're seeing in the first couple weeks,
06:45like Seattle,
06:46you saw what they were able to do last year
06:48with JSN and the rest of the receiving threats they have there.
06:51Pittsburgh, I mean, Aaron Rodgers is over 40 now,
06:53but they still have D.K. Metcalf
06:55as well as Michael Pittman Jr. from the Colts last year.
06:58They beat the Pats last year.
06:59Yeah, they beat them last year.
06:59They shouldn't have with five turnovers.
07:03But Aaron threw two dimes for touchdown.
07:05That one to D.K. was one of the back shoulder.
07:07To D.K. was one of the best throws I've ever seen live.
07:09That was incredible.
07:10But then you get Jacksonville and Buffalo as well.
07:12So, you're going to want them ready to go.
07:13Four playoff teams.
07:14Really, four playoff teams, right?
07:16And if I'm not mistaken,
07:17well, besides Buffalo division winners as well.
07:19So, yeah, you're going to want them out there.
07:21And it's going to be highlighted pretty early on
07:23if Chris Gonzalez isn't out there.
07:24But I would expect them to be.
07:25But, you know,
07:26it's obviously a bigger deal with him not being there.
07:29What's your biggest concern for this team?
07:31Number one, you know,
07:32just maybe top two.
07:34Top two biggest concerns you have for the Patriots.
07:37Tier one concern?
07:38Tier one.
07:38Well, the tier one would just be,
07:40it's been the biggest talking point really since last Saturday
07:42when Mike Rabel, in my opinion,
07:44said the quiet part out loud with the depth.
07:46I mean, they are a very shallow team
07:48in some important position groups.
07:49We talked about it off the top.
07:51More than last year starting at this time?
07:52I would say so.
07:54Yeah.
07:54Think about like tight end, for example.
07:55I'd throw tight end there this year
07:57because what's behind Hunter Henry and Eli Rearman?
08:00Unproven rookie.
08:00Okay.
08:00Unproven rookie.
08:01But what if one of them sprains an ankle?
08:03Like you felt better with Hooper last year, right?
08:05Oh, definitely.
08:06With the running backs.
08:07Don't you feel better with Antonio Gibson,
08:09with Travion and Andre?
08:10Not to mention Travion is hurt.
08:12Yeah, that does seem pretty minor.
08:14That field was a mess when they were practicing
08:16on that lower field.
08:17It was the first time since like mini camp
08:18they were down there.
08:19I think it was Monday.
08:20Yeah.
08:21They were down and people were just slipping
08:22and sliding the whole entire practice.
08:24At one point I turned to Mega.
08:25I was like, is he going to have to call this practice
08:27and just move it up to the upper field?
08:29Because they were falling everywhere.
08:30And that's how Travion got hurt.
08:31He slipped on a cut.
08:32And it doesn't appear, Major,
08:34it was something like they were looking at his.
08:36But keep going.
08:37So running back.
08:38Yeah, tight end.
08:38Running back.
08:39Tight end.
08:39Offensive line.
08:40Offensive line.
08:40Brown down now.
08:42Interior.
08:43Interior line.
08:44Linebacker.
08:45No punter depth.
08:45No punter depth.
08:46I mean, they got Matt Hack,
08:47who's been around for a little while.
08:48And he's also their holder.
08:50That's another interesting part.
08:51Oh, no holding.
08:51Not to get into the special teams talk,
08:53but remember when Julian Ashby
08:55missed the preseason game,
08:56number one,
08:57and they had a different long snapper
08:58and Boragallus missed three?
09:00Plus the line.
09:01You lost Tonga.
09:02I mean, they better.
09:02These backups,
09:03Durden or whoever he thinks is good,
09:05better.
09:05Tonga was big for you last year.
09:06He was huge.
09:07He was huge.
09:07I heard.
09:08Literally.
09:08I heard it was that they did not
09:11want to come up for 500 grand.
09:13It was over about 500,
09:14500 grand.
09:15Rich was right.
09:16They're cheap.
09:17There you go, Rich.
09:17There you go.
09:18It really is primarily on the defense.
09:20But the outside linebackers
09:21and linebackers, too.
09:23Yeah, I mean,
09:24what's behind Ellis and Spillane?
09:26Yeah, you lost Jack Gibbons.
09:27You lost Tavai.
09:28Yeah.
09:28I mean, Chad Muma was like their
09:30They were hype on him at the start.
09:32And then the pads came on
09:33and they actually started mixing it up
09:34and it was a little different.
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