Most Pittsburgh Steelers fans were happy to see the Seattle Seahawks beat the pants off the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LX. With the loss, New England and Pittsburgh are still tied with six Super Bowl victories. Despite the Patriots' struggles, one player had a truly spectacular performance.
Christian Gonzalez made one clutch play after the next. The talented and rangy cornerback came away with a remarkable pass breakup deep down the field, which helped the Patriots hang around longer than they should have. Gonzalez also had a key pass deflection in the endzone to save a touchdown.
This wasn't a one-off performance. Gonzalez was spectacular all season and earned Pro Bowl honors for his remarkable performance. Still, just 23 years old, the Patriots' best defensive back has a bright future ahead.
Now, Steelers fans are forced to live with draft regret all over again after watching a masterclass performance from Gonzalez in Super Bowl LX.
The Pittsburgh Steelers should have drafted CB Christian Gonzalez over OT Broderick Jones in 2023
We know how the Pittsburgh Steelers have operated in the NFL Draft in recent years. They have gotten hyper-focused on a certain position, and their tunnel vision doesn't allow them to see past the select players they're targeting.
This was the case in the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft.
With Dan Moore Jr. and Chukwuma Okorafor as the team's projected starting offensive tackles entering the 2023 offseason, general manager Omar Khan and former head coach Mike Tomlin got busy scouting offensive tackles, with their eyes on Paris Johnson Jr., Darnell Wright, and Brodierck Jones. Johnson was always expected to go too early in the draft, and Wright ultimately went high as well. Thus, Jones became the prize.
By focusing on the Georgia offensive tackle, the Steelers completely lost sight of Christian Gonzalez, who was inexplicably slipping on Day 1 of the 2023 NFL Draft.
After trading up to pick 14, the Steelers cashed their ticket for Jones, without even giving Gonzalez a thought. The Oregon cornerback was one of the top overall players in the draft and was higher than Jones on the consensus board. But his value didn't matter to the Steelers, who were itching for OT help.
This decision already proved to be a colossal mistake.
While we couldn't have predicted that Jones would have suffered a season-ending neck injury in his third season, Broderick struggled with consistency up until his 2025 campaign ended early. Meanwhile, even though Gonzalez had had a season-ending knee injury as a rookie in 2023, he bounced back with vengeance over the past two seasons.
Now, Gonzalez is one of the best and most valuable defensive backs in the entire NFL. Even if the Steelers had kept the rest of their draft the same, this would have been a spectacular haul that changed the direction of the organization.
Instead, the Steelers are left with a fifth-year option for Broderick Jones (that will swiftly be declined), and a 2023 first-round pick who could be one-contract-and-done in Pittsburgh, assuming he's healthy enough to come back from his neck injury and keep playing.
Christian Gonzalez's dominance in the Super Bowl (and throughout the 2025 season) is a great lesson for the Pittsburgh Steelers on why they should start drafting the best player available instead of honing in on their biggest positional need.
Gonzalez would have been a cornerstone, foundational roster piece, and one of the best players on the entire team had the Steelers drafted him over Broderick Jones in 2023.