Why Christian Gonzalez has the best ceiling of any cornerback 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 could possibly be chosen within the first spherical with three prone to go within the high 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 likely one of the finest athletes within the class, which in flip offers him one of many highest ceilings amongst any participant.

Why can Christian Gonzalez develop into among the best cornerbacks within the league?

Gonzalez’s finest attribute as a defender is his unbelievable athleticism. He has excellent play pace 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 working at tempo with the receiver. It’s practically unattainable to stack Gonzalez on vertical routes due to the positioning he takes up in addition to his play pace. Gonzalez transitions seamlessly out and in of his breaks and peddles. This paired together with his play pace 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 appeared greater than comfy. He did a superb job of staying in part all through the course of the route with the usage of his athleticism.

When he was historically pedaling in Cowl 3, it appeared fluid as he stayed gentle on his toes and he was capable of achieve depth relatively rapidly.

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

Gonzalez has unbelievable ball expertise and arms, monitoring the ball nearly like a receiver and having 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 relatively passive together 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 as a rule he opts to make use of his athleticism to remain in part relatively 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 together 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 relatively than having his shoulders sq. to the road of scrimmage. It seems to be extraordinarily awkward and regardless of having the fluid hips to doubtlessly make this work on the subsequent stage, it’s one thing that offenses are going to look to take advantage of due to how he must transition out of it. Moreover, his toes did generally tend to cross over in Cowl 3.

He seems to be a bit misplaced at instances in understanding the place he must be with a view to include the sting towards the run.

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

Gonzalez will not be a constant type tackler, as he throws his shoulders into the thigh of the ball service relatively than making an attempt to wrap them up round their midsection.

Christian Gonzalez on the 2023 NFL Draft Mix

When you had been to make a nook in a lab, they’d 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 cut 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 likely one of the finest non-quarterbacks on this draft class. He’s lengthy and athletic, can run and confirmed improved ball expertise this previous season. Together with his traits, Gonzalez needs to be a direct starter as an NFL rookie.”

Dane Brugler The Athletic

As issues presently stand, Gonzalez is finest suited to a scheme that’s heavy in off protection. This is because of his questionable press approach in addition to issues over his lack of physicality. Gonzalez profiles finest as a nook in a zone-heavy scheme resulting from his understanding of depth and pedal pace. Nonetheless, 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 part vertically.

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