5 best and worst fits from the 2023 NFL Draft
By Kinnu Singh
3. Best Fit: Christian Gonzalez, New England Patriots
The latest gem in Bill Belichick’s man-heavy scheme, Christian Gonzalez arrives in what is arguably the best place for a young cornerback to land. Over the past few years, the Patriots have collected plenty of undersized corners and versatile hybrid safeties to play a variety of coverages, causing nightmares for slot receivers, the run game, and quarterbacks confused by a variety of looks. What the Patriots did not have was someone who could serve as a true replacement for Stephon Gilmore, a tall, physical corner who could swivel on routes and extend outside.
Gonzalez has the physical attributes to keep up with the league’s top receivers, but what he’s still developing is the intuition to predict routes instead of occasionally playing catch up. When it comes to understanding the game, Gonzalez could not have a better mentor than Belichick.
Gonzalez provides a larger cornerback to play on the perimeter against opponents’ top receivers and help New England return to the man-heavy coverages they thrived with when they had Gilmore, Darrelle Revis or Ty Law. With Belichick improving his mental game, Gonzalez has the makings of an All-Pro cornerback who could join the conversation with previous Patriots greats.
3. Worst Fit: Quentin Johnston, Los Angeles Chargers
The takeaway with drafting Quentin Johnston with No. 21 is that the Chargers wanted to draft another tall, fast receiver to complement Keenan Allen and Mike Williams. With that in mind, Johnston has the build and traits that these Chargers veterans do, but his college tape is marred by troubling drops.
Still, he’s an understandable replacement for those aging wide receivers, and it allowed the Chargers to address a draft need early on in the process. Relatively speaking, he’s not the best fit for the Chargers, and wide receiver certainly wasn’t the most pressing need to address on their draft board. Instead, Los Angeles would have benefitted from developing a left cornerback with J.C. Jackson and Michael Davis both questionable. Or, the Chargers could have been the ones drafting Brian Branch instead of the Lions.
The Chargers already have enough offensive playmakers to compete in the AFC, and a receiver for the future doesn’t help their porous defense and weaknesses in the secondary. No number of receivers that they pile up on the depth chart behind Keenan Allen and Mike Williams will help the Chargers overcome their deficiencies and be a legitimate challenger to the Chiefs and newcomer Sean Payton’s Broncos.