Steelers Now
The New England Patriots have made an offer to cornerback Christian Gonzalez that would make him the highest-paid cornerback in the league, resetting the market in a way that might be exactly what Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Joey Porter Jr. and his representatives have been waiting for.
Gonzalez is entering the fourth season of his rookie contract, and has been one of the top cornerbacks in the NFL since the Patriots selected him in the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft.
He was a second-team All-Pro in 2024 and a Pro Bowler in 2025 as he helped lead the Patriots to an AFC title and an appearance in Super Bowl LX, where he allowed just three catches for 36 yards and had three pass breakups in a losing effort.
The Patriots have already picked up his fifth-year option for 2027, a fully guaranteed one-year, $18.1 million contract. But New England is poised to give him even more than that. Patriots owner Robert Kraft said on Saturday that the team is prepared to make Gonzalez the highest-paid cornerback in the league.
“We love Christian Gonzalez,” Kraft said at Patriots training camp on Saturday. “We love him as a player and as a person. That’s why we’ve made an offer to him that makes him the highest paid player to ever play that position in the NFL, and coincidentally, it’s the highest contract in Patriots franchise history.”
The top of the market is currently $31 million per year, which is what the Los Angeles Rams gave Trent McDuffie on his new four-year, $124 million contract extension, signed after he was traded from the Kansas City Chiefs earlier this offseason.
Gonzalez might not be the only cornerback looking to reset the market this summer. Seattle Seahawks cornerback Devon Witherspoon is in basically the same scenario, and is an even more accomplished player.
Witherspoon, the fifth overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, has been a Pro Bowler each of his three pro seasons and was a second-team All-Pro in 2025 while leading the Seahawks to a Super Bowl LX victory over Gonzalez’ Patriots. Witherspoon has a $3.9 million roster bonus that is due on Monday, that could be amortized over the length of a contract extension if the Seahawks can work out an extension before then.
Porter, taken with the first pick in the second round of that same draft class, does not have a fifth-year option, so unlike the Patriots and Seahawks, the Steelers do not have the luxury of waiting a year.
He and the Steelers have been working on a contract extension since the spring, and Porter said at OTAs that he felt respected by the process at that point, but there has been little in the way of updates recently.
Porter, who had a very strong statistical 2025 season but has not had the same amount of national recognition as Gonzalez or Witherspoon, is not expected to reset the market as they are, but he could be waiting to...
