Pats’ Christian Gonzalez, Eagles’ Nolan Smith among young players set to rebound from injury, early struggles

Every year in NFL, we see emerging stars. And they come in all shapes and sizes, with different backstories. Here, we will begin a mini-series with young “rebound” teams who have fallen into the shadows of the world of football spectators, whether through injury or simple disappointment.

To qualify for this article, a player must be entering their second or third year at NFL.

Let’s go.

Injury recoveries

Christian Gonzalez injured his labrum in early October and was subsequently placed on season-ending injured reserve. Then a plethora of huge, franchise-altering developments have occurred with the Patriots, so it’s relatively easy to forget how good Oregon’s first-round pick was in his first four NFL Games.

The man coverage specialist had three pass breakups, one interception, didn’t allow a touchdown in his coverage and missed just one tackle in 209 total snaps. An athletic freak with super smooth hips and brilliant route recognition skills, Gonzalez was born to play defense for New England (yes, even after the Bill Belichick era).

At nearly 6-foot-4 and a few pounds under 200 with 32-inch arms reaching the limit, Gonzalez ran a 4.38-second 40-yard dash with a 41.5-inch vertical and broad jump in the 95th percentile at the position . He has the athletic makeup of a top-tier perimeter cornerback. With plenty of time to recover from his injury, I expect Gonzalez to enter the conversation as one of the best, young, and sticky defensemen in the league in 2024.

Man, that hamstring injury wasn’t going to leave Christian Watson alone in 2023. It limited him to less than 41% of Green Bay’s offensive snaps. Fascinatingly, this thread on Twitter/X highlighted the work and research the Packers’ third-year pro has done this offseason to potentially combat the nagging element of his hamstring issue.

To summarize, Watson discovered that he had “20% asymmetry in the hamstring muscle between his right and left legs, which meant that the left hamstring was 20% stronger than the right.” Because of this, his weaker right hamstring simply couldn’t keep up with the explosive capabilities of his stronger left hamstring, which caused him to miss 11 games over the past two seasons.

He has now worked to reduce this gap to possibly less than 10% asymmetry. And if both of Watson’s legs cooperate in 2024, watch out. Packers quarterback Jordan Love has had elite-level production over the last eight games of 2023: 70.2% completion rate, 7.71 yards per attempt with 18 touchdowns and… one interception.

Additionally, in Watson’s absence, many other young guys at receiver and tight end have performed well, meaning Watson cannot be the focal point of defensive game plans this season.

Nolan Smith tore his pectoral muscle during his final season at Georgia. Then, as a rookie, he suffered a shoulder injury with the Eagles. These likely related illnesses likely impeded his development into what was an absolutely loaded defensive front in Philadelphia.

Younger than 2024 first-round edge rushers Laiatu Latu and Jared Verse, opportunity awaits Smith with the Eagles. Although the team essentially traded Haason Reddick for Bryce Huff, Smith’s deceptive point-of-attack power and blocking dominance — when healthy — should have him on the field on early downs to begin his second NFL season.

But it’s not that he’s incapable of putting pressure on the quarterback. This is the former No. 1 recruit in the country who had a 40-yard dash, 10-yard split, vertical and broad jump all in the 95th percentile or higher at the edge position at the 2023 NFL Scouting Combine. Now, seemingly fully healed, I expect Smith to play much closer to how he played at Georgia in 2022, when he had an 18.6% pressure creation rate.

Andrew Booth Jr. was one of those players repeatedly mocked in the first round during the 2022 draft cycle who ended up not being selected until the second round, and draft analysts suspected it was due to medical issues. Then, as a rookie, he had knee surgery in late November.

The Vikings, of course, moved forward at the cornerback position, and Booth played just over 13% of the Vikings’ defensive snaps in 2023. Because of his incredibly slow and injury-plagued start to his post-Clemson life, it’s all too easy to forget Booth.

But he showed glimpses of the supreme, highly fluid athlete he was with the Tigers in that small glimpse of action in his second pro season. Although he picked off just one pass in 99 coverage snaps, Booth allowed four catches on eight targets for 30 yards and no touchdowns — good for a 59.4 passer rating.

Recoveries from early disappointment

Tyree Wilson’s rookie season can be divided into two distinct parts.

After just nine pressures in his first 12 games — on 187 pass rush opportunities — Wilson emerged from Week 13 as a completely different player. From Week 14 through the remainder of the regular season, he pressured the quarterback 15 times on 121 pass rushes in five games.

While no one could dispute Wilson’s athletic and imposing prowess – he is taller and longer than Myles Garrett and has a nearly identical weight – it was clearly obvious in the Texas Tech film that he had a problem harnessing his explosiveness, thus putting he was at a disadvantage when he made the jump to the NFL.

Everything has started to fall into place under Antonio Pierce’s watch, and Wilson won’t have to be “the guy” up front for the Raiders, thanks to superstar Maxx Crosby and up-and-coming Malcolm Koonce. But the physical gifts are too immense for Wilson not to take a step forward in 2024.

Cam Smith was my CB1 in the class of 2023. His disappointing rookie campaign in Miami was a shock to me. Now, with new eyes on him as defensive coordinator – moving from Vic Fangio to Anthony Weaver – Smith has a new lease of life in football.

At South Carolina, Smith was a football magnet, with six interceptions and 18 pass breakups on just 94 targets in four seasons. Heck, he barely played as a rookie, just 22 snaps on defense.

Now, with Xavien Howard gone, Smith could take on a more important role on the perimeter, even with the addition of Kendall Fuller. Smith is over 6-foot-1 and 180 pounds with next-level athleticism and an aggressive attitude at the line and throughout the receiver’s path. He has the instincts, the movement ability and, most importantly, the natural ball skills to make a considerable leap forward in his second season at Miami Gardens.