The Packers are still living with the fallout from the 2023 NFL Draft, and Lukas Van Ness keeps getting pulled back into the conversation.
Green Bay took Van Ness with the No. 13 overall pick after getting that rare early selection in the Aaron Rodgers trade package. At the time, plenty of Packers fans wanted the team to go a different direction - either wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba or cornerback Christian Gonzalez.
That frustration hasn’t aged out. If anything, it’s gotten louder.
Smith-Njigba has already turned into a star in Seattle, earning first-team All-Pro honors and playing a major role in the Seahawks’ Super Bowl triumph last season. Gonzalez has been just as damaging to the Packers’ draft regret, and now he’s on the verge of a massive payday that only sharpens the sting.
Patriots owner Robert Kraft said the team plans to make Gonzalez the highest-paid player ever at his position.
"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."
That offer makes sense given what Gonzalez has become. He’s coming off a Pro Bowl season and was a second-team All-Pro before that. After a torn labrum limited him to four games as a rookie in 2023, he has bounced back in a big way, appearing in 30 of a possible 34 games since then.
The numbers back up the rise. Over the last two seasons, Gonzalez has broken up 21 passes and picked off two. Pro Football Reference says quarterbacks have completed only 54.7 percent of their throws against him for 1,038 yards, four touchdowns, two interceptions, and a 75.7 passer rating.
At 24, he’s still climbing.
For Green Bay, the timing only makes the miss look worse. Cornerback remains unsettled, even after the Packers added Benjamin St-Juste in free agency and drafted Brandon Cisse in the second round and Domani Jackson in the sixth. St-Juste and Cisse are in the mix with Carrington Valentine for the starting job opposite Keisean Nixon.
That group should be better than the nightmare Green Bay dealt with last season, but there are still real questions. Can Nixon hold up as a full-time starter?
Is St-Juste ready to play every week after impressing in a backup role with the Chargers last season? Can Cisse contribute right away?
Gonzalez would have answered all of that with one swing.
Instead, the Packers are left watching him move toward a record-setting extension while their own first-round pick continues trying to justify the choice. Van Ness has shown encouraging signs heading into training camp, and he can still put together a breakout season. Green Bay needs that, especially while Parsons is out.
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