Oregon Ducks cornerback Christian Gonzalez was selected by the New England Patriots with the No. 17 pick of the NFL draft.
Gonzalez spoke with members of the media via zoom following the selection.
Below are excepts from that interview. The full transcript can be found on Patriots.com.
Q: How surprised were you that you were available at pick 17? I know from some of the pre-draft process and things that we see, it felt like you were the top cornerback on the board. So were you surprised to fall that far? What does it mean to play for a guy like Coach Belichick at the end of the day?
Gonzalez: I mean a little bit. But it all happens for a reason. God has a plan. So I am trusting his plan. I’m very excited to play under him. You can’t really get a better coach than that. So I’m just excited to learn, go in there and just compete.
Q: I know at the combine you mentioned that you’ve watched rookie cornerbacks make an impact. What did watching someone like Sauce Gardner do for your confidence last season? What are your goals? What do you hope to achieve on defense this year?
Gonzalez: It means a lot to be able to watch somebody come in and just make an instant impact. I want to hopefully do the same thing. I just want to come in compete and learn. I said earlier, you can’t learn from anything better. I’m really just excited for the opportunity to learn from the best.
Q: Do you have much of a relationship with Adrian Klemm? Obviously, he was with you at Oregon last year.
Gonzalez: Yeah, I definitely have a relationship with him. We would always talk at practice, mess around. But I’m excited to meet back up with him.
Q: It looked like your tackling and your ball skills seemed to take a jump last year at Oregon. How would you describe the process of improving those skills which are really important to the Patriots?
Gonzalez: It was just film study. Knew what I had to get better at and attacking it every day at practice. Really attacking it and knowing myself what I had to get better at, not having a coach tell me.
Q: Has this been a dream of yours since you were a kid? Can you still believe it now that you were picked in the first round by the Patriots?
Gonzalez: Definitely it’s been a dream since I was five, six years old when I started playing football. It’s kind of surreal. It’s hit, but I don’t think it’s truly hit. Maybe when I lay down in bed and just breath again. I’m very excited. I don’t have a lot of other words. It’s just so much excitement that the day finally came, and the phone rang.
