Patriots fill huge need by taking Christian Gonzalez in 2023 NFL Draft
The New England Patriots traded down and still wound up with a player considered a premier prospect at No. 17 overall in the 2023 NFL Draft. The Patriots selected Oregon cornerback Christian Gonzalez with the 17th overall pick Thursday night. They traded down from No. 14 overall with the Pittsburgh Steelers, picked up the 120th […]
The New England Patriots traded down and still wound up with a player considered a premier prospect at No. 17 overall in the 2023 NFL Draft.
The Patriots selected Oregon cornerback Christian Gonzalez with the 17th overall pick Thursday night. They traded down from No. 14 overall with the Pittsburgh Steelers, picked up the 120th overall pick in the fourth round and still wound up with a 6-foot-1, 197-pound cornerback with incredible speed an explosion measurables.
Gonzalez ran a 4.38-second 40-yard dash with a 41.5-inch vertical leap and 11-feet, 1-inch broad jump at the NFL Scouting Combine. He’s the only cornerback on the Patriots roster who’s 6 feet or over and weighs over 195 pounds.
The Patriots needed a bigger cornerback to match up with tall, physical wide receivers, and they land just that in Gonzalez, who joins Jonathan Jones, Jack Jones, Marcus Jones and Myles Bryant in New England’s cornerback room.
Gonzalez looked like the obvious pick at No. 14 overall before the Patriots traded down. Offensive tackle Broderick Jones, defensive end Will McDonald and cornerback Emmanuel Forbes were taken before Gonzalez.
New England's top needs entering the draft were at cornerback and offensive tackle. They passed on Jones but wound up with a cornerback with a rare combination of size and speed to match up with some of the NFL's elite wide receivers.
