The Green Bay Packers have high hopes for Lukas Van Ness after he starred in the offseason program, but their decision in the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft is still finding ways to haunt them.
Packers fans pounded the table for the team to select either wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba or cornerback Christian Gonzalez. Green Bay had a rare opportunity to pick early, owning the No. 13 overall selection as part of the Aaron Rodgers trade.
It felt like a missed opportunity to pass on Smith-Njigba and Gonzalez. It's not from the lens of hindsight, either, as it was the consensus feeling among the fanbase before either of them had played a snap.
Since then, Packers fans have been, quite painfully, proven right. Smith-Njigba has soared to stardom in Seattle, earning first-team All-Pro honors and playing a starring role in the Seahawks' Super Bowl triumph last season.
Gonzalez has done the same in New England, and he's on the verge of a historic payday that just highlights the Packers' regret a million times over. Well, tens of millions, to be precise.
Christian Gonzalez is poised to land a record-shattering deal that only heightens the Packers' regret
Patriots owner Robert Kraft revealed that the team plans to sign Gonzalez to a record-breaking extension.
"We love Christian Gonzalez. We love him as a player, as a person, and that's why we've made an offer to him to make him the highest-paid player to ever play that position in the NFL," Kraft said, via Mike Reiss of ESPN. "And coincidentally, it is the highest contract in Patriots franchise history. So we're glad we drafted him, he's developed here, and we hope he'll be with us for a long time."
And who could blame Kraft? Gonzalez is coming off a Pro Bowl season and is also a former second-team All-Pro.
He has fought back brilliantly from an injury-hit rookie season. Gonzalez featured in just four games in 2023 due to a torn labrum, but he has played 30 of a possible 34 games since then, establishing himself as one of the NFL's rising stars at cornerback.
Over the past two seasons, Gonzalez has broken up 21 passes and intercepted two. According to Pro Football Reference, quarterbacks have completed just 54.7 percent of passes against Gonzalez for 1,038 yards, four touchdowns, two interceptions, and a 75.7 passer rating.
And at 24 years old, he's only just getting started.
Passing on Christian Gonzalez looks even worse for the Packers amid cornerback uncertainty
Imagine Gonzalez in the same lineup as Micah Parsons. That's a championship-level partnership at the two most important positions on defense.
Instead, cornerback remains a concern for the Packers. They've invested in the position this offseason, signing Benjamin St-Juste in free agency before drafting second-rounder Brandon Cisse and sixth-rounder Domani Jackson. St-Juste and Cisse will compete with Carrington Valentine for a spot in the starting lineup opposite Keisean Nixon.
The infusion of talent should improve the Packers' nightmarish cornerback situation from last season, but so many questions remain. Is Nixon consistent enough to retain a full-time job? Can St-Juste start every week? He impressed in a backup role for the Chargers last season, but the Packers may need him to play more frequently. Is Cisse ready to make an impact immediately?
Gonzalez would've given the Packers a true shutdown cornerback.
He's on the cusp of a record-breaking deal that further proves just how badly Brian Gutekunst missed in the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft.
That's not to say Van Ness can't enjoy a breakout season in his own right. He absolutely can, and has shown encouraging signs in the lead-up to training camp. The Packers need him to step up this year, especially while Parsons is out.
But it would take a 17-game season of the ages for Van Ness to catch Gonzalez. The latter's incoming payday will once again shine a light on arguably Gutekunst's biggest draft-day regret.
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