During his time with the Oregon Ducks, Christian Gonzalez was a force to be reckoned with at the cornerback position, routinely locking down opposing pass-catchers and turning himself into a first-round pick in 2023. That’s far from the end of his story, as he’s put together a promising NFL career to date.
ESPN polled executives, coaches and scouts to rank the 10 best players at each position. In their cornerback rankings, Gonzalez was placed at No. 6 — just ahead of Carolina Panthers’ Jaycee Horn and below New York Jets’ Sauce Gardner.
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The highest ranking that Gonzalez received was No. 1, with the lowest being unranked. The 23-year-old improved upon last season’s ranking of honorable mention.
“Gonzalez caught the league’s full attention as an honorable mention last year despite missing 13 games with a shoulder injury in 2023,” ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler wrote.
“He reached top-10 status after his second-year performance, as expected, allowing 46 of 86 targets to be completed as the nearest defender in coverage. That 53.5% completion percentage was the third-lowest among 33 players with at least 75 targets coming their way.”
He also received heavy praise from a veteran NFL assistant coach, who said “I think Gonzo is the next great one. Skills, patience, length. He’s the closest thing to Pat [Surtain II]. Smooth, big athlete, travels a lot, can matchup against the best guy.”
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Fowler did point out an area where the former Duck could improve, citing physicality.
“He’ll tackle, but I wouldn’t call him physical,” an NFL coordinator said. “But he’s got the size and coverage skills to put him on the outside and he can handle himself, and he can also come up and play run support and play within the construct of the defense.”
Some of that may have to do with the shoulder injury that caused Gonzalez to miss significant time during his rookie campaign. But even with that slight flaw, the rising third-year cornerback and former Oregon standout has entrenched himself amongst the best in the business at his position in the NFL.
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This article originally appeared on Ducks Wire: Former Oregon Duck Christian Gonzalez among top 10 cornerbacks in NFL