The New England Patriots entered the offseason with the most cap space of any team in the NFL, and while they didn't add a ton of outside talent, they did their best to retain some of their own free agents and extend some players who would hit the market in 2025.
One player who New England got to a year early was defensive lineman Davon Godchaux, who was unhappy with his deal due to not having any guarantees remaining.
Despite the situation, Godchaux showed up to training camp, practiced with his teammates and was rewarded with a two-year extension worth up to $21 million with $16.5 million guaranteed.
How did it all come together?
In a recent video on Godchaux's YouTube channel, he shared some of what happened during his negotiations.
“I don’t wanna be a distraction," Godchaux said. "Man, it was a new head coach. I don’t wanna be a distraction to the team, I really just wanna go out there and ball. I didn’t do anything in OTAs, I just worked out at the facility, and I went home…
"Training camp came and I remember having this conversation with Eliot (Wolf)… He called me and was like ‘Look, what’s going on? We want you to be out on the field practicing.’ I’m like ‘Look, Eliot, I don’t have guarantees.’ I get it. In this day and age… the top pass rushers are getting paid big money, but you also need a guy to come in and stop the run. If the run doesn’t get stopped then you can forget about the pass rush…
"Me and my agent ended up taking a whole other approach when it came to training camp. I practiced… I practiced in pads the first couple of days, and then about the third day in pads, I got paid. We were just like a million or two off. I’m like ‘Eliot, let’s just get this done. I wanna be here. You guys want me here. Let’s just get it done.’ And then we end up getting it done.”
Keeping Godchaux happy became more of a priority when defensive lineman Christian Barmore was diagnosed with blood clots, which could hold him out for the entire season if not longer.
They'll have to rely on him more in the middle in 2024 than they have in recent years, and it makes sense to pay him more for this responsibility.
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