2023 NFL mock draft: Cowboys land WR, Lions land star QB prospect
18. Minnesota Vikings: Christian Gonzalez, CB, Oregon
player. 60. Pick Analysis. CB. 18. Scouting Report. Oregon. Christian Gonzalez
Kudos to the Minnesota Vikings for having arguably the most impressive overall victory in Week 1 of the 2022 NFL season. The Vikings have a new general manager, a new coaching staff, and a lot of major changes to the roster defensively, but they were able to come away with a very convincing win over the Green Bay Packers. Looking forward to the future a little bit, the Vikings — and every NFL team — probably need more cornerbacks.
Veteran Patrick Peterson has been a good pickup for the Vikings, even late in his career, but how much time does he have left? Is he already on borrowed time? The Vikings went out and grabbed Andrew Booth in the 2022 NFL Draft out of Clemson, and I love that pickup. I think even looking forward with he and Cam Dantzler likely in this team’s plans, a playmaker like Christian Gonzalez makes plenty of sense.
GONZO! @chrisgonzo28 hauls in his first collegiate interception! First takeaway of 2022 for the Oregon defense 👏 #GoDucks
— Oregon Football (@oregonfootball) September 11, 2022
📺 https://t.co/OaWKA8f8YC pic.twitter.com/U9yHTzSgAJ
The former Colorado transfer is very well-built at 6-foot-2, 200 pounds, and he just picked off his first pass of the season for the Ducks last week looking like a wide receiver doing it.
19. Indianapolis Colts: Clark Phillips III, CB, Utah
Pick Analysis. Utah. 46. Scouting Report. CB. Clark Phillips III. 19. player
Did I mention that more NFL teams need good cornerback play? Although things didn’t work out for him as a head coach with the Denver Broncos, Vic Fangio is one of the great defensive minds in league history, and he made an excellent point. To paraphrase a quote of his, he essentially stated that out of 32 teams, you essentially have 96 starting cornerbacks with how much teams play in the nickel these days. There aren’t 96 high-quality corners in the NFL, so you can never have too many.
The Indianapolis Colts are one of the teams right now with some pretty darn good ones at cornerback when you look at guys like Kenny Moore III, Stephon Gilmore, and Brandon Facyson, but that’s really it. Beyond this season, what do the Colts have at this spot? It’s looking slim.
Clark Phillips III makes it back-to-back Pac-12 cornerback picks and he could play inside or outside looking at his projection to the next level.