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(PHOTO: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports) There was a lot of talk after this weekend about the New England Patriots not landing an impact player on offense in the early rounds of this weekend’s NFL Draft, but the selection in round one of Christian Gonzalez may end up being a massive key to New England’s success moving forward, even more than people may realize.
In the NFL, with the escalation of the salary cap and, subsequently, the player contracts, it made complete sense for the Patriots to target someone like Gonzalez. He’s the type of player who is an elite cover corner, which is something that is far less expensive to develop compared to having to go out and sign an established one in free agency.
With cornerback and wide receiver being among the two most expensive positions in the league when it comes to free agents, it’s a selection that just makes too much sense. All you need to do is look at the recent past when they’ve had to go out and pay for shut-down level talent. It’s been incredibly costly, albeit they won two titles off the backs of the players they signed.
They obviously did it with both Darrelle Revis and Stephon Gilmore, both of which ended up being instrumental to winning two titles during their tenures with the club.
However, each deal was certainly expensive. With Revis, the Patriots paid him a 1-year, $12 million deal after his release from the Buccaneers following the 2013 season. That was back in 2014 when the salaries at that position were beginning to rise, and that trend has since continued.
(PHOTO: Timothy T. Ludwig – USA TODAY Sports)
We saw it when the club signed Gilmore to a five-year, $65 million deal that included $40 million guaranteed in 2017, which, to that point, was the most guaranteed money the club had ever given to a defensive player.
Gonzalez is aware of that history, telling the media after he was selected that his goal is to hopefully provide the same answer as Gilmore for New England’s defense.
“I’m just excited to be able to get in there and play,” said Gonzalez. “Having great cornerbacks come out of that system. But yeah definitely watched Stephon Gilmore. He’s a great player. I want to follow in the footsteps of him.”
Obviously, Gilmore helped solidify a pretty good secondary during his time in New England, often quieting opponents’ best players as Tom Brady and the offense took care of the rest.
That’s essentially why the Patriots likely drafted Gonzalez. Clearly, we’ve seen a significant investment on that side of the football in recent years, with the hope likely being to take the pressure off the offense and setting up a situation where they can simply win by keeping things close and hopefully being “good enough” to outscore opponents.
That strategy worked relatively well in 2021, and even – as bad as they were – almost worked in 2022. However, injuries late in the season in the secondary ultimately hurt them. In 2021, the loss of Jonathan Jones down the stretch killed them, especially in that embarrassing playoff loss to Buffalo.
They also lost both Jalen Mills and Jack Jones at the end of 2022, which was also significant, especially when their margin for error was already pretty slim as they tried to navigate on offense with Matt Patricia calling the plays.
As a result, some people point to the success the club has had at that position in the later rounds with undrafted players (Malcolm Butler, J.C. Jackson, etc.) as the argument why they should have potentially addressed a different position on offense. But Gonzalez is such a terrific talent that grabbing a guy who they can potentially lock up for the next five seasons puts a cornerstone piece in place that, provided he lives up to his end of the deal, could pay dividends.
While grabbing a receiver in round one would have been the sexier move, having a guy who can at least shut down opponents who have one is likely going to be more important.
Fortunately, the Patriots now appear to have that type of foundational player in their secondary. On the other side, they also still have a relatively deep group of the receivers offensively.
As it currently stands, the club has veteran wideouts JuJu Smith-Schuster, Kendrick Bourne and Devante Parker, along with sixth-round picks Kayshon Boutte and Demario Douglas. There’s also still the possibility that Boutte or Douglas could emerge, along with hopefully a nice step forward from Tyquan Thornton, who could potentially develop in his second season.
Add in some bigger contributions than what we saw from Jonnu Smith at tight end from Mike Gesicki and another productive year from Hunter Henry, and they should be in relatively good shape. And there’s still a possibility a move could come in the coming months depending on how things shake out due to salary cap implications, etc.
For now, some many not like the move but the results will ultimately be what matters. And if Gonzalez lives up to the expectations, they’ll at least have plenty of financial wiggle room during the foreseeable future. That in and of itself could end up being huge should Bill Belichick get his team back on the path to becoming contenders in the conference.
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