Not sure how this was in any way a negative for Gronk. He was due to make 1.2 mil total the next two years. He will now make 9.2 mil guaranteed. He will make another 9 mil the next two seasons. 18 mil the next 4 years. I'd like to get screwed over that way. The franchise number for TE this year was 5.75 mil. So even if it goes up 1 mil in two years (generous leap, considering it actualy has gone down from 5.9 mil in 2010) Gronk would only make about 8 mil over 3 years if he got to the end of his contract and was franchised for a year. I doubt he'd get 11 mil to make up the difference in the 4th year.
I agreed with everything you said up until this point. If Gronkowski hit the FA market in 2014 he would have had no problem getting 11M up front. Hell, I think it's possible he could have pulled in close to 50M in guaranteed money if he ever got to free agency. But they almost certainly would have franchised him again (even that would be less than $9M) so he would have had to wait even longer to get his mega payday.
I think the Patriots are realizing that they can sign guys to more team-friendly deals if they don't milk every contract for every year they can. If they had done this (early extension) with Wilfork or Mankins they could have probably saved a ton of dough. They kind of quietly locked up Jerod Mayo last year with an extension as well. Welker is, unfortunately for him, not in this category, since he's on the wrong side of 30 and has probably played past his prime at this point. But there are still a half-dozen guys I would like to see them lock up, including Hernandez.
Gronk is worth every penny. While I am not happy that the Pats locked him up it is good that they have to pay for what they are getting. I am sick of them having guys like Gronk and Brian Waters play at a pro bowl level making almost nothing while we have to pay $6 mil plus to get a borderline starter to come here (or resign).
