The cornerback market has a new salary king. Denzel Ward became the NFL's highest-paid defensive back with the two-year, $62.2 million contract extension averaging $31.1 million per year and containing $52.3 million in guarantees he just received from the Cleveland Browns.
Ward's reign should be short-lived. Christian Gonzalez and Devon Witherspoon, both 2023 first-round picks, are negotiating new deals with the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks.
Patriots owner Robert Kraft said Saturday at the start of training camp that Gonzalez had been offered a deal that would make him the NFL's highest-paid cornerback. Presumably, Kraft was referring to average yearly salary.
Prior to Ward's new deal, that distinction belonged to Trent McDuffie. He signed a four-year, $124 million extension averaging $31 million per year in connection with his March trade from the Kansas City Chiefs to the Los Angeles Rams.
Gonzalez is taking a different approach to the negotiations than the Patriots. The 2025 Pro Bowler told the media Tuesday that he preferred to keep contract discussions private. Gonzalez, who attended but didn't participate in the mandatory June minicamp, decided against holding out or holding in. Holding out would have subjected him to a $45,000 fine for each day of training camp he missed.
Gonzalez has been a full participant in the Patriots' first four training camp practices. A hamstring injury he suffered early in training camp last year cost him the first three games of the 2025 regular season.
Typically, teams don't negotiate publicly, especially when there isn't a holdout or hold in, making Kraft's statement surprising. If a deal doesn't get done, Kraft could paint Gonzalez as unreasonable, if not greedy.
The devil is in the details with NFL contracts because they aren't fully guaranteed like those in the NBA and MLB. Kraft didn't provide any specifics about the offer made to Gonzalez.
The following financial benchmarks for key contract metrics should be relevant in negotiations between Gonzalez's camp and the Patriots. To get a Gonzalez deal done, new standards will likely have to be established in a majority of these contract metrics.
Financial benchmarks
- Average yearly salary: $31.1 million (Ward-Browns)
- Total contract value: $145,853,473 (Sauce Gardner-Colts)
- Overall contract guarantees: $100 million (McDuffie-Rams)
- Fully guaranteed at signing: $50 million (McDuffie)
- Signing bonus: $30,566,628 (Travis Hunter-Jaguars)
- Three-year cash flow: $77 million (McDuffie)
- First three new years: $93.868 million (McDuffie)
Professionals within the industry (agents and team negotiators) typically value deals by new money, which is the amount of compensation in a contract excluding what a player was scheduled to make before receiving a new deal.
For example, Gardner had two years remaining on his rookie contract, just like Gonzalez does now, worth $25,453,473 before signing. Although Gardner signed a six-year contract totaling $145,853,473, industry professionals consider it a four-year, $120.4 million extension averaging $30.1 million per year. The two remaining contract years worth $25,453,473 are subtracted from the six-year total to arrive at that figure.
Compensation in the first three new years is the amount of money in a contract excluding what a player was scheduled to make before receiving a new deal, just like new money when determining average yearly salary. Cash flow analysis looks at total compensation. The focus is on the amount of money received in the first three years of a contract regardless of whether it's considered new money.
Both metrics have the same dollar amount when a player signs a new contract as a free agent or with an expiring contract (i.e., center Tyler Linderbaum with the Las Vegas Raiders). On rare occasions, a contract is ripped up and replaced, like Josh Allen's in March 2025. The Buffalo Bills renegotiated Allen's contract even though he had four years worth $154,554,595 remaining on the six-year, $258 million extension averaging $43 million per year (worth a maximum of $288 million through incentives) he signed in 2021. Allen received a new six-year, $330 million deal.
Overall contract guarantees can be misleading. This metric doesn't provide a complete picture of a contract's true security. The amount fully guaranteed at signing and the money that becomes fully guaranteed early in the contract are the best measures of security.
Gonzalez has two years worth $20,928,482 remaining on his rookie contract. He is scheduled to make $2,809,482 this year and $18.119 million on his fully guaranteed fifth-year option in 2027.
For Gonzalez to have the richest contract ahead of Gardner, the Patriots needed to offer at least $124,924,482 in new money. That would essentially be a four-year, $125 million extension. At $31.25 million per year, Ward would drop to second in the cornerback salary hierarchy.
A structural sticking point could be New England's recent insistence on massive per-game roster bonuses in veteran contracts. The primary benefit of these bonuses is that they provide the Patriots with financial relief when injuries occur. The per-game amount is payable only if the player is on the active list for that game.
Defensive tackle Milton Williams was New England's highest-paid player at $26 million per year before wide receiver A.J. Brown was acquired from the Philadelphia Eagles in June. Williams' four-year, $104 million deal has $8.5 million in per-game roster bonuses, including $2.55 million each ($150,000 for each game active) in 2027 and 2028.
The largest amount of per-game roster bonuses among the NFL's highest-paid cornerbacks is the $765,000 ($45,000 for each game active) in the new contract years of the four-year, $100 million extension averaging $25 million per year Jaycee Horn signed with the Carolina Panthers in March 2025. Ward had $600,000 in each of the remaining two years of his contract before his new deal. McDuffie has $680,000 in 2027, 2028 and 2029. Gardner has $750,000 in the extension years of his contract (2027 through 2030).
It wouldn't be surprising if the Patriots insisted Gonzalez's contract include per-game roster bonuses comparable to Williams'. They will contend they are necessary because of durability concerns. In addition to last season's hamstring injury, Gonzalez missed the final 13 games of his rookie season in 2023 because of a torn labrum in his right shoulder that required surgery.
The Patriots already have the largest per-game roster bonuses in cornerback contracts. The three-year, $54 million deal Carlton Davis signed in 2025 includes $1.275 million ($75,000 for each game active) annually.
The Patriots also have a favorable guarantee vesting schedule in Williams' contract. The $12 million of his $21 million 2027 base salary guaranteed for injury at signing doesn't become fully guaranteed until March 11, the third day of the 2027 league year.
By contrast, the third- and fourth-year guarantees in McDuffie's and Gardner's respective contracts convert from guaranteed for injury to fully guaranteed one year early (i.e., the 2028 base salary becomes fully guaranteed on the third or fifth day of the 2027 league year). Because of this, Williams' team-friendly guarantee vesting schedule will likely be another sticking point in the Gonzalez negotiations.
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Another interesting dynamic that could impact the negotiations is that Gonzalez and Witherspoon are both represented by Reggie Johnson. The Seahawks reportedly started negotiating with Witherspoon more than four months ago.
Witherspoon has two years left on his contract worth $26,255,702. He is scheduled to make $5,094,702 this year and $21.161 million in 2027 on his fully guaranteed fifth-year option.
Witherspoon has been named to the Pro Bowl on the original ballot in each of his three NFL seasons. He also earned All-Pro honors for the first time in 2025.
The top of the cornerback market took a dramatic jump in 2025. Horn became the league's first $25 million-per-year defensive back early in the offseason, with the cornerback market eventually settling at Gardner's $30.1 million per year. Something like that typically doesn't happen in consecutive years.
The best Witherspoon can reasonably expect is to be treated similarly to fellow Seahawks 2023 first-round pick Jaxon Smith-Njigba. The 2025 NFL Offensive Player of the Year reset the wide receiver market by 4.72% in April when he signed a four-year, $168.6 million extension averaging $42.15 million per year with a wide receiver-record $120,067,996 in overall guarantees.
That approach would put Witherspoon at approximately $32.5 million per year. It would also be consistent with adjusting Gardner's deal for salary-cap inflation. Gardner's contract, accounting for the 7.88% increase in the salary cap from 2025 to 2026, is worth just under $32.475 million per year.
Witherspoon's contract will contain per-game roster bonuses. The amount should be considerably less than what the Patriots are likely seeking with Gonzalez. Smith-Njigba's deal contains $850,000 in per-game roster bonuses ($50,000 for each game active) annually beginning in 2027.
Johnson is in the unique position of controlling the timing of these signings because he represents both cornerbacks. For example, he could strategically slow-play the Gonzalez negotiations if he believes he can get Witherspoon more than the Patriots are offering. That would allow Johnson to hold Kraft to his word about making Gonzalez the NFL's highest-paid cornerback after first setting a new market with Witherspoon.
