While filling out mock drafts this spring, it eventually seemed too unrealistic to have the New England Patriots selecting Oregon cornerback Christian Gonzalez with the 14th overall pick.

Gonzalez was listed as one of the draft’s premier players as recently as Thursday morning by Sports Illustraded’s Albert Breer and seemed like a lock to be taken before the Patriots were slotted to pick.

Well, New England traded down three spots and still landed him.

One team source said he expected Gonzalez to be drafted in the top 10. Another team source was also surprised Gonzalez was still available at No. 17 overall. The Oregon cornerback is 6-foot-1, 197 pounds and ran a 4.38-second 40-yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine. He flashed more elite athleticism with a 41.5-inch vertical leap and 11-feet, 1-inch broad jump.

Gonzalez, who’s still just 20 years old and won’t turn 21 until June 28, transferred from Colorado in 2022 and let up 39 catches on 64 targets for 495 yards with three touchdowns and four interceptions last season. He fills a much-needed role in the Patriots’ defense as a big cornerback able to match up with physical wide receivers. New England didn’t previously roster a cornerback taller than 6 feet or weighing over 195 pounds.

Here’s what A to Z Sports’ Tyler Browning had to say about Gonzalez’s coverage skills in his draft guide:

Man Coverage: Traveling corner. Stays on top of the route well, and can disguise what coverage he is running. Stays in phase incredibly well and contests the throw at the catch point. Patient in press man, does not open up too early and lets the receiver commit to the stem of his route before matching him. He stays on top of routes plenty, if he added a bit of physicality so that he could dictate their tempo he would be incredible. Squeezes the receiver towards the sideline during the stem of their route.

Zone Coverage: Passes of route concepts and picks new ones up seamlessly. Once he started recognizing route concepts, you could see him cheat to take away the deeper route, while not losing containment of the shorter route

One slight surprise about the pick is that tackling ability was one of Gonzalez’s question marks entering the draft. The Patriots typically value tackling in their cornerbacks, but Gonzalez is still young, and New England focuses heavily on that aspect in practice.

The Patriots traded down three spots with the Pittsburgh Steelers and picked up the 120th overall pick in the fourth round of the draft in the deal. They now own 12 total picks in the 2023 NFL Draft. It wouldn’t be surprising to see them trade up or into the future at some point in the draft to get rid of some of those selections.

Gonzalez joins Jonathan Jones, Jack Jones, Marcus Jones and Myles Bryant among top cornerbacks on the Patriots. They also have Quandre Mosely, Rodney Randle and Shaun Wade filling out their cornerback depth.

The Patriots have put an emphasis on speed in recent drafts, and Gonzalez certainly fits with that trend. New England needs talented cornerbacks with quarterbacks Josh Allen, Aaron Rodgers and Tua Tagovailoa and wide receivers Stefon Diggs, Garrett Wilson, Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle in the AFC East. They also need to face Terry McLaurin, CeeDee Lamb, Davante Adams, Keenan Allen, Mike Williams, A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith and Chris Olave this season.

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