The Patriots cornerback has high hopes heading into 2025.
A season-ending shoulder injury limited New England Patriots cornerback Christian Gonzalez to just four games his rookie season. Back healthy his sophomore year, Gonzalez quickly established himself as one of the league’s top corners as he went on to earn second-team All-Pro honors in 2024.
But despite Gonzalez returning to the field and playing at a high level, the Patriots finished with just four wins for the second straight season.
“It was tough, but honestly I was looking more of it as just going out there and having fun,” Gonzalez said Wednesday on PFT Live with Mike Florio and Chris Simms. “I got hurt my rookie year so just being out there, playing the whole year was great for me and having fun. Obviously, you want to win. That’s the main goal. But we were in a lot of close games. I think we had seven one-score games. So, we’re not far off.”
The 22-year old Gonzalez will be one of the key pieces in New England returning to contention as the team’s best defensive player. En route to earning All-Pro honors, Gonzalez consistently covered the oppositions top receiver in one of the league’s heaviest man-to-man defenses.
On the other side of the ball, it’s no secret the main piece is fellow first-round pick Drake Maye.
“It all starts with Drake. Everybody has seen what Drake can do. We got full faith in Drake. He’s a superstar,” Gonzalez said. “Being able, as a defense, to get more turnovers — to get back to the Patriot defense everybody knows, just getting the ball back. If we do that and get the ball back to Drake a lot more times, I feel like we could have won a lot more of those games.”
Entering 2025, Gonzalez will now have his third head coach in as many years after the Patriots hired Mike Vrabel to replace Jerod Mayo. While the cornerback has not yet spoken to his new head coach, he has heard good things about what’s to come.
“I know he’s a Patriot, he’s in the Patriot Hall of Fame. They talk good about him,” Gonzalez said. “I’ve heard it’s going back to what they call the ‘Patriot Way.’ For sure, I’m ready.”
Vrabel’s style will be a stark change from how things operated last season, which could have ultimately plagued New England throughout the year.
“I would say the building got a little more laxed. I mean, that might have hurt us,” Gonzalez said about last year’s coaching change. “I would probably say it got a little more lax.”