Christian Gonzalez scouting report: Oregon cornerback has the best ceiling of any CB within the 2023 NFL Draft

The 2023 NFL Draft class is loaded on the cornerback place. As issues presently stand, as many as six cornerbacks might be chosen within the first spherical with three more likely to go within the prime 15 picks. Maybe the one with the best ceiling of the bunch is College of Oregon’s Christian Gonzalez. The College of Colorado switch is among the greatest athletes within the class, which in flip provides him one of many highest ceilings amongst any participant.

2023 NFL Draft Choice

The New England Patriots chosen Christian Gonzalez with the No. 17 general choose within the 2023 NFL Draft. For full protection of the Christian Gonzalez choose, heads over to Pats Pulpit.

Why can Christian Gonzalez grow to be the most effective cornerbacks within the league?

Gonzalez’s greatest attribute as a defender is his implausible athleticism. He has excellent play velocity which borders on elite, and he pairs with fluid hips and a lightweight pedal.

Gonzalez does an amazing job of getting in place on vertical routes by rapidly flipping his hips as soon as he acknowledges the route after which operating at tempo with the receiver. It’s almost unattainable to stack Gonzalez on vertical routes due to the positioning he takes up in addition to his play velocity. Gonzalez transitions seamlessly out and in of his breaks and peddles. This paired along with his play velocity permits him to make constant performs on the catch level.

Gonzalez was hardly ever tasked with taking part in in off-man protection, however when he was he regarded greater than snug. He did job of staying in section all through the course of the route with the usage of his athleticism.

When he was historically pedaling in Cowl 3, it regarded fluid as he stayed gentle on his toes and he was in a position to achieve depth fairly rapidly.

As a cloud zone defender in Cowl 2, Gonzalez gained excellent depth. He additionally had an understanding of when handy off receivers to the deep half defenders to permit him to return up on the beneath routes.

Gonzalez has implausible ball abilities and arms, monitoring the ball nearly like a receiver and with the ability to make a play on the ball from any place.

Gonzalez will make for an amazing blitzer on the subsequent stage due to his fast acceleration.

What are the weaknesses of Christian Gonzalez?

Gonzalez is fairly passive along with his hand utilization through the course of the route. He hardly ever makes use of them off of the road of scrimmage to attempt to jam the receiver and most of the time he opts to make use of his athleticism to remain in section fairly than his arms.

In press man, Gonzalez has his struggles. He will get too low into his beginning place as his again is nearly parallel to the bottom, which means his toes, hips, and shoulder should not aligned leading to wasted motion. Moreover, his footwork can get sloppy as he nearly leans again along with his higher physique inflicting him to get on his heels and play with loud toes.

Gonzalez tends to overplay his leverage in press man which permits receivers to create straightforward separation.

Gonzalez performs with a bizarre approach in Cowl 3 zone, to the place he would nearly get his again parallel to the road of scrimmage when he was gaining depth fairly than having his shoulders sq. to the road of scrimmage. It seems extraordinarily awkward and regardless of having the fluid hips to probably make this work on the subsequent stage, it’s one thing that offenses are going to look to use due to how he must transition out of it. Moreover, his toes did generally tend to cross over in Cowl 3.

He seems a bit misplaced at occasions in understanding the place he must be with a purpose to include the sting in opposition to the run.

He must be extra aggressive in attacking the surface shoulder of receivers on the boundaries to stop runs from being bounced to the surface. He assaults blockers a little bit too passively at occasions.

Gonzalez just isn’t a constant kind tackler, as he throws his shoulders into the thigh of the ball provider fairly than attempting to wrap them up round their midsection.

Christian Gonzalez on the 2023 NFL Draft Mix

In case you have been to make a nook in a lab, they might look and run like Gonzalez. He ran a 4.38-yard sprint which is an elite quantity and he paired it with a strong 10- and 20-yard break up. All in all, Gonzalez posted a Relative Athletic Rating of 9.94, the third-highest mark of any nook on this class.

Christian Gonzalez highlights

What are others saying about Christian Gonzalez?

“My No. 9 prospect again in August, Christian Gonzalez lived as much as these lofty expectations and is among the greatest non-quarterbacks on this draft class. He’s lengthy and athletic, can run and confirmed improved ball abilities this previous season. Along with his traits, Gonzalez needs to be a direct starter as an NFL rookie.”

Dane Brugler The Athletic

As issues presently stand, Gonzalez is greatest fitted to a scheme that’s heavy in off protection. This is because of his questionable press approach in addition to considerations over his lack of physicality. Gonzalez profiles greatest as a nook in a zone-heavy scheme resulting from his understanding of depth and pedal velocity. Nevertheless, if drafted to a person protection scheme, he’ll have the ability to maintain up due to his athleticism, fluid hips and talent to remain in section vertically.

Gonzalez’s implausible athleticism, capacity to remain in section, ball abilities, and fluid hips give him the ceiling of a real three-down beginning nook, though his struggles in press protection, passiveness along with his arms and poor tackling approach give him the ground of a role-playing starter.