Patriots' Christian Gonzalez Reveals Biggest Goal for 2025

After finishing with a 4-13 record in the regular season, the New England Patriots didn't have a ton to hang their hat on, but one player who still managed to shine through the chaos was second-year cornerback Christian Gonzalez.

Gonzalez capitalized during his sophomore season by building on top of an already successful rookie campaign, beginning to cement himself as one of the top cornerbacks in the NFL just two years into his career.

Despite putting together a strong second season, Gonzalez isn't satisfied yet. The 22-year-old cornerback has his sights held high for his third-year pro, as he's already begun to lay out some of his individual goals for 2025.

When talking with Mike Reiss of ESPN, Gonzalez unveiled his big goal as he prepares for his third season: getting more interceptions.

“Getting the ball back more,” Gonzalez said via ESPN.“I feel like I left a couple of plays out there, plays I know I could have made and caught the ball. Just getting the ball back in Drake’ [Maye]'s hands, because everyone knows what he can do.”

Even while only hauling in two interceptions during his second season, Gonzalez still made a stellar impact on the Patriots' defense. He earned All-Pro second team odds, becoming the first New England cornerback to receive All-Pro honors since Stephon Gilmore in 2019.

But if Gonzalez were to have a nose to get more takeaways next season, it would only help this Patriots unit that lacked in the category across 2024. New England ranked in the bottom three across league defenses for forced turnovers with only 12.

If this Patriots defense wants to get back on track, it starts with winning the turnover battle, and in the words of new head coach Mike Vrabel, "taking advantage of bad football." Gonzalez is motivated to do just that.