Christian Gonzalez talks falling in NFL Draft, All-Pro aspirations

Patriots

“Corners are a lot more talkative and talk a lot more trash. It’s just not my game.”

With each passing game, it seems like more of a steal that the Patriots were able to select Christian Gonzalez with the No. 17 pick in the 2023 NFL Draft.

Gonzalez was the third cornerback drafted after a somewhat unexpected slide to the middle of the round where New England happily picked him and poised him to be the team’s No. 1 corner, latching onto opposing No. 1 wide receivers every week.

Speaking to Patriots writer Evan Lazar, Gonzalez explained why he feels he slid later into the first round than originally expected.

“The knock on me was that I don’t talk a lot, and people thought I wasn’t competitive,” Gonzalez said. “I got to the league and have shown what I can do. I guess it’s because, usually, corners are a lot more talkative and talk a lot more trash. It’s just not my game. So, they thought I wasn’t competitive.”

Gonzalez has built up a reputation for not talking much, if at all, even after making big plays for the Patriots. Instead, he lets his play do the talking, and that has a lot of people talking.

New England coach Jerod Mayo threw praise at Gonzalez following the Patriots’ loss to the Cardinals, in which the second-year corner had another lockdown performance, keeping rookie wideout Marvin Harrison Jr. in check for the entire game Sunday.

“He’s our best player on defense, and he proved that [vs. the Cardinals],” Mayo said. “Just a guy that goes out there and competes on a down-after-down basis, and he did a good job.”