Pats’ next star corner could come in draft
Considered strong year for defensive backs
By the end of last season, the Patriots were filling their cornerbacks room with street free agents, practice-squad players, hopes and prayers.
If they intend to contend in 2023, it’s time for some upgrades.
Free agency should offer some solutions, though with a thin crop of above-average starters available, the draft may prove to be a better bet. Not only in the first round, but maybe the second and perhaps even the third.
According to draft evaluators, the 2023 cornerback class is one of the deepest in recent memory. The top three prospects — Oregon’s Christian Gonzalez, Illinois’ Devon Witherspoon and Penn State’s Joey Porter Jr. — could all hear their names called before the Patriots make their first pick at 14th overall. Or, one of them might offer a home-run selection at a serious position of need, especially if Jonathan Jones departs in free agency.
Gonzalez and Porter Jr. met with the Patriots at the combine, where Porter Jr. unintentionally announced himself as a perfect fit for Bill Belichick’s defense to reporters on Thursday.
“I’m a physical press corner,” he began, “who’s gonna get in your face and do his job and do it well.”
Porter is tall (6-foot-2), lanky and brimming with potential. His father, fourtime Pro Bowl pass rusher Joey Porter, has repeatedly told his son he wants him to be achieve more than he did in the NFL. He just might.
Porter Jr., whom opposing quarterbacks began to avoid over his final season, nonetheless finished with 11 pass breakups and two picks over 10 games. He became a second-team
All-American and trimmed his penalties from 10 in 2021 to three last year, a common weakness among physical corners.
Gonzalez is another specimen at at 6-foot-2 and 201 pounds, perhaps the most athletic corner in the class. He can play press-man, the Patriots’ preferred coverage in critical downs, and packs Pro Bowl potential.
Witherspoon (6-foot, 180 pounds) is a heat-seeking missile as a tackler who picked off four passes last season. According to Pro Football Focus, he allowed catches on 34.9% of his targets last season. Playing under former Pats assistant Bret Bielema, Witherspoon should come with a stamp of approval, not to mention the requisite physicality and ball skills demanded of all Patriot cornerbacks.
If the Pats pass on a firstround cornerback, as they did a year ago with Washington’s Trent McDuffie at 21st overall, they won’t be short on Day 2 options.
Mississippi State’s Emmanuel Forbes, arguably the top ballhawk in the entire class, recently tied the FBS record with six career pick-sixes. He scored three last season, when he also finished with 16 pass breakups and blocked a kick. Forbes is fluent in press coverage, instinctive and a borderline Day 1-2 pick.
His slender frame, at 180 pounds, is unlikely to spook the Patriots, who selected 171-pound Jack Jones last year. Forbes’ love of film study should also attract, as well as his background as a receiver.
Another ex-receiver, South Carolina’s Darius Rush,
starred at the Senior Bowl, a historical hotbed for Patriots prospects. He quelled concerns about his inexperience at the position, while flashing the ball skills that have become a staple of Pats’ corners in recent years.
“I may not have as much experience as guys playing it their whole career, but I proved I am a DB,” Rush said of his Senior Bowl experience. “I am able to do what guys have been doing for 10 years. I showed my skill set out there, able to play pressman and zone coverage and make plays when need be.”
Rush is a projected lateround pick, while his corner counterpart at South Carolina, Cam Smith, is a late Day 1, early Day 2 possibility. Smith trains with former Patriots cornerback Stephon Gilmore, a fellow South Carolina
alum, and profiles similarly as an aggressive man-toman corner. Smith, however, recounted an “uncomfortable” interview with the Patriots at the combine.
“It was very intense,” Smith said Thursday. “I kind of felt uncomfortable. I had to answer a lot of hard questions dealing with some of the stuff that I did in college. I just had to make sure that I answered those tough questions.” Specifically?
“Just trying to open up about myself,” he said. “I never really have opened up about myself, trying to talk to everybody and stuff like that. Just trying to open up and make sure everybody knows exactly who I am.”
If the Patriots are open to Smith come April, the 6-foot, 188-pounder could compete for playing time with his anticipation,
length and ball skills. After the first round, Georgia’s Kelee Ringo, Miami’s Tyrique Stevenson and Maryland’s Deonte Banks all boast physical tools that could one day help them develop into above-average starters. Stevenson is another Senior Bowl standout, who explained Thursday how he’s honed his man-coverage skills over the years.
“Staying more fluid in my hips, staying more square at the line of scrimmage, using my hands more and making sure I give that receiver a hard time,” Stevenson said. “Making him doing things that they usually don’t do things they usually do. Because offense is a timing game.”
And so is the draft, which is why for the corner-needy Patriots, the timing couldn’t be much better.