The Hype Train on Patriots No. 1 Pick Christian Gonzalez Has Left the Station and So Far it's High-Speed Rail Bound for Glory

Jerry Thornton6/09/2023 8:40 PM

It's always wise when talking about a rookie who's only been seen by the media on a couple of occasions - and even then only in no-contact, padless practices - not to get too far out over your skis. To do what every Boomer Masshole always does in this situation and go straight to the tired Bill Parcells cliche, let's not put the guy in Canton just yet.

Except let's. Out over your skis is a great place to be. Putting a guy in Canton can be the perfect activity for a Friday in early June. Both are fantastic way to kill time until you get to actually see what a noob can actually do. So that's exactly how I plan to spend the rest of summer with respect to Christian Gonzalez.

From the first GIF length videos to come out of the first couple of workouts, the hopes on the No. 17 pick have been off the charts. Followed no long after by this comment from Devin McCourty on Good Morning Football:

McCourty then went on to add, "They were like, man, we’ll see how it plays out when we go and play real football, but shorts and a t-shirt with a helmet on, the guy looks great. They love watching him play, love seeing him develop. I think they’re excited about that.”

And we've identified the "they" that McCourty has been talking to:

After missing most of the workouts that were open to the media early on, this week Gonzalez has been taking all the first team reps on the outside, opposite last year's pleasant surprise rookie corner, Jack Jones. Granted, that is with the other two Jones corners, Jonathan and Marcus, not participating. But since Jack (a 4th round pick) had the 10th lowest passer rating when targeted at just 63.1 while taking almost 79% of his snaps as boundary corner, those two would appear to be the top choices outside the numbers. If they can develop they way the seem to have been so far, and you mix in the other two Jones and Jalen Mills as a movable piece the way he was in Philadelphia, that would give the Pats a depth at corner that seemed impossible after they lost Stephon Gilmore and JC Jackson in back-to-back years.

Add to them 3rd round pick Marte Mapu, who was lining up at a hybrid LB/Safety today alongside Dugger, and had a pick of Bailey Zappe as well as a PBU, and it's not out of the realm to imagine that secondary could be the strength of this team. Despite losing McCourty to retirement.

We'd better hope that is the case because this is what awaits Gonzalez, Mapu and the rest:

So yes, it's a hype train. And even though they've had a tendency to go off the rails, over a trestle, crash into the bottom of a canyon and explode into a fireball way too many times in the past, I'm going to spend the next few months riding the first class car on this one.