Teams are lucky enough to have one shutdown corner on the roster.
But two?
That’s gold in an offense-charged NFL.
While it’s debatable to tab both Christian Gonzalez and Carlton Davis in the elite lockdown category, they are close enough. They’re very good at manning the boundary, and taking on receivers one-on-one.
Already, they are being considered one of the best - if not the best - cornerback tandems in the NFL.
At the very least, they’re in the conversation with the Dallas Cowboys duo of Travon Diggs and DaRon Bland, and the Cleveland Browns 1-2 punch of Martin Emerson and Denzel Ward.
“I think easily, New England goes to having the best corner tandem in the league,” Devin McCourty said, speaking with MassLive earlier in the week. “I mean, if somebody told me Carlton Davis and Gonzo are the best, I’d sign up for it.”
Whether it’s best, or second best doesn’t matter.
The significance is what they’ll do for the Patriots defense, and how having a top duo manning the outside instantly makes Mike Vrabel’s unit more competitive.
The beauty of having two corners who are capable of locking down receivers will allow the Patriots to play more aggressively.
And that’s just for starters.
Solomon Wilcots, a former NFL defensive back and current Sirius XM NFL host, put it into context.
“If you lock them down on the outside, you can play games on the inside,” Wilcots said. “You can dial up a lot of things, you can disguise, blitz. It gives you more creativity, more flexibility, and you can overwhelm the line of scrimmage. You can dominate against the run, and you can generate more pressure on the opposing quarterback.”
Basically with two corners shutting down two receivers, and not needing help, the Patriots can employ the nine other defenders any way they see fit.
Vrabel has talked at length about wanting to make opposing quarterbacks uncomfortable, forcing mistakes.
Having Gonzalez and Davis, who signed a 3-year, $54 million deal with the team, will allow the Patriots coach to get his wish up front.
“I just think it allows you to play so much looser. It changes the way you play,” McCourty said. “Then on third down, or key situations, you don’t think twice about calling that aggressive call because you think you’re going to win outside.”
Gonzalez was named an All-Pro (second team) for the first time in 2024. Davis, part of Tampa Bay’s 2021 Super Bowl-winning team, was with the Detroit Lions last season.
He was having a good year, but fractured his jaw in a Week 15 game, and missed the rest of the season.
When healthy, Davis is considered a top corner. That’s why the pairing with Gonzalez figures to be special.
McCourty said the Patriots haven’t had a cornerback duo as good as Gonzalez-Davis since 2018. That’s when the Pats had Stephon Gilmore and Jason McCourty, along with J.C. Jackson, manning the outside, with one of that trio sometimes handling the slot along with Jonathan Jones.
That allowed then-Patriots defensive coordinator Brian Flores to harass the quarterback with exotic blitzes. In Super Bowl LIII, LA Rams quarterback Jared Goff had no idea where the pressure was coming from.
With two good corners, that will also allow defensive coordinator Terrell Williams to take away the middle of the field. The deep safety can stay home, as opposed to providing help with one of the receivers.
“We used to say it all the time in those years, pack the middle of the field,” McCourty said. “You can’t pack the middle of the field unless you can win outside. When you can win outside … you can take away the middle. The Patriots are going to want people to throw at Davis and Gonzo.”
With the new firepower up front with defensive lineman Milton Williams, Khyiris Tonga, and Harold Landry, and Robert Spillane at the second level, the Patriots will have plenty of ammo to attack along with in-house regulars Keion White, Christian Barmore, Kyle Dugger and Jabrill Peppers.
McCourty believes they’ll play as aggressively as the Detroit Lions defense, where Terrell Williams was previously the defensive line coach.
Williams was also with Vrabel in Tennessee, where they shared that attack mindset.
“With the personnel they now have, they’re going to wreak a lot of havoc,” Wilcots said.
Last season, the Patriots defense didn’t wreak much of anything. They had just 28 sacks, which was last in the league. That was 35 off the pace set by the Denver Broncos, who led the league.
Having two of the better corners in the league manning the outside - along with Marcus Jones handling the slot - should help get the Patriots defense up off the mat.
“Hopefully we can just play cat coverage, like I got this cat, you got this cat, and we can go to work,” Vrabel said of the Davis-Gonzalez pairing. “The thing I appreciate about watching CD is they may catch a ball on him and he just lines back up and he competes and he challenges and he tries to play aggressive, and that’s a play style we embrace.”
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