NFL Draft Odds: Bet Christian Gonzalez to be First CB Taken

• Christian Gonzalez is the outright favorite to be the first cornerback taken in the NFL Draft at online sportsbooks.
• Due to Gonzalez's solid production in 2022 and elite NFL Combine performance, betting on the Oregon product with -225 odds to be the first corner picked is a strong bet.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - After a great showing at the NFL Combine and a First-Team Pac 12 winning year in his first season at Oregon, Christian Gonzalez has now become the outright favorite over the field to be the first cornerback selected in the 2023 NFL Draft.

NFL Draft Odds: First Cornerback Selected

• Christian Gonzalez -225
• Devon Witherspoon +275
• Joey Porter Jr. +750
• Brian Branch +1100
• Cameron Smith +2800
• Kelee Ringo +3000

Gonzalez is projected to be the first cornerback off the board by online NFL sportsbooks due to his combination of skill and top-tier athleticism.

Christian Gonzalez Talent and Athleticism

Teams in the NFL Draft effectively try to find talented college football players with the athleticism that projects them well to the NFL.

Athleticism is the key translating factor for Christian Gonzalez, as he had a very good season and projects to have the highest upside over the corners at the top of odds boards and is the best bet to go first.

Gonzalez had a very good season in 2022 with his First-Team Pac 12 award at cornerback reflective of that, but relative to his peers at the top of the odds boards his season may have even been considered below average.

Consider how other corners that have longer odds than Gonzalez finished in the AP All-American teams:

• Devon Witherspoon (+275): First-Team All-American at Corner
• Joey Porter Jr. (+750): Second-Team All-American at Corner
• Brian Branch (+1100): First-Team All-American at Defensive Back
• Clark Phillips III (+4000): First-Team All-American at Corner
• Emmanuel Forbes (+4000): Second-Team All-American at Corner

As chosen by the AP All-American voters, objectively Christian Gonzalez may be ever-so-slightly behind his peers in current talent level as he failed to make the All-American team despite his all-conference selection.

Where Gonzalez makes up for that difference in skill is his athleticism which may help his skills translate more and give him a higher upside than other corners.

Using relative athletic scores for each of the top corners on the odds boards (scores are given one to 10), it becomes clearer as to why Gonzalez is the best bet at online sportsbooks:

• Christian Gonzalez (-225): 9.96 RAS; Second best in the CB Class
• Devon Witherspoon (+275): Unranked; Considered below the 4.82 Average CB RAS
• Joey Porter Jr. (+750): 9.63 RAS; Seventh best in the CB Class
• Brian Branch (+1100): 6.10 RAS: Eighth in the Safety Class
• Cameron Smith (+2800): 9.57 RAS; Eleventh in the CB Class
• Kelee Ringo (+3000): 9.61 RAS; Ninth in the CB Class

Christian Gonzalez had the best NFL combine of any of the top-rated corners at Bovada and couples that with strong enough production in the Pac 12 to warrant bets on him to be the first cornerback off the board in the 2023 NFL Draft.