He recorded coverage grades of at least 72.0 in each of his first three seasons in the league and has allowed just 51.4% of the passes thrown into his coverage to be completed. Washington possessed one of the better defenses in the NFL in 2020;Jacksons addition should only improve it, giving them a No. Denzel Ward, in my opinion, is another year away from being a potential top-five cornerback in the NFL. That pairing will be joined by arguably the premier corner from this years draft class, Patrick Surtain II, who makes the step up to the league after a stellar college career with Alabama, which he ended by helping the Crimson Tide to a National Championship and allowing 0.93 burn yards per snap. The Packers signed veteran Rasul Douglas midseason, and he far surpassed expectations with a 76.5 coverage grade. Bradberry was the fourth-most valuable cornerback in the league in 2020 per PFF WAR, with career-best coverage numbers across the board. Only one defensive back nickel cornerback, Galina: The shortcomings of the Kellen Moore-Dak Prescott connection for the Dallas Cowboys. He finished with the lowest slot coverage grade in the NFL. Cowboys: 6-10. 1 cornerback in the league heading into the 2020 season, fresh off a Defensive Player of the Year award in 2019. Despite that, the Buccaneers outside cornerbacks still combined for the highest unit coverage grade in the NFL. He plays so he is targeted, which leads to his interceptions. Five rosters still have more questions than answers, which makes these teams the worst the NFL has to offer as they prepare for the 2021 campaign. Cornerback Charvarius Ward was also playing exceptionally better after missing a month due to injury. Rashad Fenton also saw his playing time increase after the first month of the season and closed out the regular season with an 81.1 coverage grade. Darius Big Play Slay played a big part in the Eagles cracking a spot in the top half of the league. Eric Kendricks 639 # . 10. Houston Texans: Whitney Mercilus, OLB. Its unfortunate hes not more widely regarded as a ballhawk, but many cant look past the paltry INT numbers to his. Rhodes will look to continue to build on that success on another one-year deal with the team in 2021. No cornerback in the league has been more productive on passes 20 or more yards downfield over that span. 4 . No, he was targeted often because of who was on the opposite side, and his ball skills shined in the process, recording 10 INTs in 2020. There is a massive amount of talent currently at the position. While Gang Green endured a turbulent 2019, Poole was one of the team's top performers week in and week out. If you take away a disastrous 2019 season with the Philadelphia Eagles in which he earned just a 44.8 overall grade, Darby has graded above 68.0 overall since being drafted in 2015. Marlon Humphrey, Baltimore Ravens. Davis has put up a solid grading profile and coverage stats across the past two seasons in Tampa Bay despite that tough slate of opposing wide receivers. None of their cornerbacks had a quality campaign, but. With the help of PFFs advanced database which is used by all 32 NFL teams we'll rank all 32 NFL secondaries from the 2021 regular season. Going into the 2021 season, there are several teams that stand out as best prepared to do that with the talent they possess in the defensive backfield. Hill had his best seasons in LA . Butler has been one of the best in the league at getting his hands on the football throughout his career. He allowed a mere 0.46 yards per coverage snap and 3.1 yards per target in that span, both of which ranked second among cornerbacks. The 2021 second-round pick is a valuable piece to this secondary moving forward, but the other cornerback spots need some work. With more than 20 pending free agents, the front office will have a lot of work to do. A strong work out at LSU's pro day on April 6th could help to turn around his draft stock. 30. Slay will look to rebound under a new coaching staff and get back to making plays on the ball after ranking second in the league in forced incompletions (75) across his seven years in Detroit. . The 49ers brought in veteran Josh Norman out of necessity at the start of the season, and it didnt go well. The Tuscaloosa News via AP) Height: 6'2" (95th percentile) Weight: 208 (94th) 40-Yard Dash: 4.42 seconds (85th) Bench Press: 18 reps (33rd) Vertical Jump: 39 inches (84th) Broad Jump: 131 inches (91st) 3-Cone Drill: N/A 20-Yard Shuttle: N/A Bio: In what will be a theme for this list of players . Reed and Tre . That is how much top-end cornerback play there is in the NFL. Kansas City's defense looked dead in the water after the first five weeks of the season. Similar to the receiver spot, college is pumping out NFL-ready cornerbacks every draft season, although last year's group failed to meet the hype, particularly the first rounders. He allowed just 30 receiving yards on 359 coverage snaps across his final 11 games that season. Jackson burst onto the scene with a 90.4 coverage grade in his first season of action back in 2017. The Texans dont have many players on their roster who they can rely on for steady play, but Roby is one of the few, assuming he doesnt receive another six-game suspension in 2021. It hasnt taken Alexander very long to establish himself as one of the leagues best coverage cornerbacks. However, if White can keep up his torrent pace in 2021, he could easily elevate into the same conversation for CB1. They made a league-leading 23 plays on the ball from the slot en route to allowing the lowest passer rating (71.1). His six penalties this past season were fewer than any year since his rookie season in 2013. Eagles: 4-11-1. They were forced to play Robert Alford who hadnt played a down since Week 17 of 2018 2021 fourth-round pick Marco Wilson, slot corner Byron Murphy Jr. and NFL journeyman Antonio Hamilton at outside corner this season. Bryce Callahan, Denver Broncos Were taking a look at the best and worst units in football at each positional grouping. Unlock all tools and content including Player Grades, Fantasy, NFL Draft, Premium Stats, Greenline and DFS. A.J. Ive already written my story on Trevon Diggs. The Cardinals are under pressure to produce a playoff campaign in the third year of Kliff Kingsbury as head coach and Kyler Murray as quarterback and a look at their depth chart in the secondary indicates the offense may have to carry this team to a first postseason appearance since the 2015 campaign. Hes a wide receiver baiting quarterbacks into throwing passes that he can jump. The low-level play ultimately led to his benching by the seasons end. Yet, with Quandre Diggs coming off a year in which he conceded a disappointing 13.82 burn yards per target, this is a group with more questions than answers. After a broken-up pass against Wake Forest in 2016, he, . More progress from that duo could lessen the impact of Johnsons exit but, following highly rated defensive backs coach Aubrey Pleasants switch to Detroit, maintaining their status as the gold standard is far from a given for Ramsey and Co. in 2021. Jones matched his interception total across the first five seasons of his career last year with Miami, but it was his worst season from a production allowed standpoint since making the switch to cornerback in 2018. > 2021 NFL > Advanced Stats. Unfortunately for Detroit, one of those corners is now on their roster. Check out the 2021 NFL Opposition & Defensive Statistics including AFC and NFC results and standings on Pro-football-reference.com Should Malcolm Butler and Robert Alford earn starting roles, they will provide veteran presences at outside corner, yet their recent play should not inspire much confidence. In a pass-heavy league, the cornerback position has grown into one of the most important positions on the football field. From Week 12 to the end of the regular season, he was one of the 10 highest-graded cornerbacks in the NFL. Awuzie was the second-highest graded cornerback of the regular season, while Hilton was the seventh-highest graded slot corner in coverage. Nickel Ronald Darby (37.8) and free-agent signing Kyle Fuller (40.3), inexplicably released by the Chicago Bears, each ranked in the top seven in burn percentage allowed for corners with at least 200 coverage snaps. He has picked up coverage grades between 70.4 and 72.4 every season, gradually increasing his playing time each year. Free-agent signing William Jackson III was an up-and-down performer. Personally, I want a guy who travels up and down the field on an assignment basis against the opposing teams best receivers. If Lattimores career was flipped in reverse order, theres a reasonable chance that he would be inside the top five on this list. 6 on the list, as his 86.2 coverage . He isnt at the top of the CB rankings yet simply because this is all so new. Ranking the top NFL Cornerback contracts and salaries in the NFL Top 25 cornerbacks in the NFL. Brian Poole (not re-signed) was the only cornerback to hold opponents to negative EPA per target in 2020. . After a few poorly graded games in the first quarter of the season, the first-round pick stepped up and was a legitimate CB1 for Denver. Ramsey is a freak, and on top of it all, hes so good against the run that his late-career safety transition will probably end in an All-Pro berth or two. Demario Davis 6634. From Week 7 on, Ward allowed more than 50 yards in coverage just once. Heck, he played more snaps in the slot in 2020 than he did on the outside. increasing that usage from 21 percent in 2021 (29th in NFL . Nickel corner Sean Murphy-Bunting also did a decent job at preventing big plays, conceding eight on 44 targets on the inside. In 2019 and 2020, for instance, he played more in the slot than out wide. They will be looking for a step forward from last years third-round pick Cameron Dantzler, who was above average in burn yards per target (9.4) and open percentage allowed (62.3) as a rookie. The Detroit Lions were, by most metrics, the worst defensive team in the NFL last year and they probably won't be much better . . Pro Football Focus graded rookie Sauce Gardner as the best corner in the NFL. Still, they held up well, ranking sixth in coverage grade and second in EPA per pass play allowed on such plays. Still seems like we're waiting for the first domino to fall with the Bears . He ranks top 10 in both slot and outside coverage grade. All Rights Reserved. While it wasn't easy putting together this list, here is our ranking of the NFL's 10 best cornerbacks in 2022. He remains among the league leaders in targets, and with that comes the yards. His goal is not to make it so a quarterback doesnt want to throw the ball his way. There is a perception that Shermans better days are behind him, but entering his age-33 season, there is still plenty of room for Sherman to take a step back and still be one of the better cornerbacks in the NFL. Cornerback Adoree Jackson and safety Xavier McKinney helped claw this secondary to a No. The Bengals spent over $12.7 million on their cornerbacks against the cap in 2022, which was 6.02% of their total . 28. Sign up and be the first to receive exclusive stats, news, and updates from the Analyst. There is a massive amount of talent currently at the position. Jackson is fluid and explosive with great natural feet to play a sticky brand of man coverage. The Vikings invested heavily in the secondary in recent years and the numbers suggest that decision could pay dividends in the coming season. 14. After recording three straight coverage grades of at least 85.0 in New Englands defense, Gilmore put up just a 58.5 coverage grade in 2020. TreDavious White has been one of the top cornerbacks in the league since the minute he stepped on an NFL field. 11. Humphreys seamless inside-outside versatility is a big reason why he ranks so highly here. All 259 picks have been made and the 2021 NFL Draft is officially in the books for all 32 franchises. So this is one of the worst cornerback trios in the NFL, not just the NFC West. Its too early to say Gilmore cant get back to that level, though. Design by Matt Sisneros. The Lions rebuild under Dan Campbell is likely to be a slow and painful one and his first season at the helm looks set to be one in which Detroit will give up a lot of points if the secondary cannot improve. Since entering the league in 2016, 18.7% of his targets in coverage have resulted in a pass breakup or interception, leadingall cornerbacks who have been targeted at least 150 times over those five years. And even he had a volatile season with a 60.5 coverage grade. On the other hand, safety Justin Simmons sustained his high-level play by finishing as one of the 10 most valuable players at the position. Tre Flowers open percentage of 85.7 was the fifth-worst of all corners in the NFL, though the play of another former Niner, D.J. As I said in last week's Schein Nine, NFL offenses are more creative and dynamic than ever before. Ramsey produced the highest coverage grade and most PFF WAR among all cornerbacks in the regular season. Two of Indianapolis' outside cornerbacks earned top-20 coverage grades this season: The Broncos' secondary underwhelmed to a certain extent in 2021, with veteran safety, Cornerback was a major area of concern for the Cardinals. In his first two seasons, A.J. Pro Football Network strives to passionately deliver purposeful, captivating, and exceptional football content. Six cornerbacks played over 100 snaps for the Jaguars in 2021 and only one Shaquill Griffin produced a coverage grade above 60.0. Outside of safety Derwin James, the Chargers' secondary left a lot to be desired in 2021. Top Nine Defenses. Discover Next Gen Stats News, Charts, and Statistics. He has earned overall grades between 64.7 and 72.9 in every season since 2012, barring a career-high 82.5 grade in his first year with the Giants in 2016. Outside corner J.C. Jackson was also one of the best at his respective position, earning a top-five PFF grade in the regular season. And we mustnt forget about the impact of rookie safety Jevon Holland. Jalen Ramsey, Los Angeles Rams. After an offseason in which Arizona did little to address the cornerback position, the onus may again be on that pair to elevate those around them, unless Butler and Alford unexpectedly recapture their form of old. Darious Williams, Los Angeles Rams T.J. Green has played because of . James Bradberry, New York Giants, 21. Buffalos secondary endured a crushing blow in Week 12 when CB1 TreDavious White went down with a season-ending torn ACL. The hope for Miami will be that he gets back toward the player who earned a five-year, $82.5 million contract last offseason. The Rams' pass-defense unit regressed some from 2020, but make no mistake: This is still an above-average group. The strength of this group comes from two former Washington Huskies. He has been one of the best run defenders (88.5 run-defense grade in five seasons with the Vikings) at the position since entering the league in 2015. In a pass-heavy league, the cornerback position has grown into one of the most important positions on the football field. Reed, provided some grounds for optimism as his burn yards . Patrick Peterson was considered to have had a down year last season but his open percentage of 51.9 when playing outside corner was seventh among players to have taken snaps at that spot. With the help of. Meanwhile, Bashaud Breeland, another free agency signing, was tied fifth in open percentage (52.7) among corners to have played at least 200 coverage snaps. If that remains the case, Buffalos secondary should stay among the best in the league even with only marginal improvements made by his teammates. Devon Witherspoon is a player who has had the best production throughout 2022 and has been simply elite while . Projections: Offensive rookies. The NFL's top 11 safeties. His 3.2% missed tackle rate was the second-lowest among safeties. No problem. Things got off to a rough start when the Lions lost 2020 No. Bobby Wagner 8452. Hayward has been one of the highest-graded cornerbacks in the league for much of his career, spanning across time spent with both the Packers and the Los Angeles Chargers. Contract: three years, $18.6 million. David Carr constructs his own ranking of the top 10 cornerbacks, but All-Pro . who passed away in February 2021 at age 81, played cornerback for the Eagles from 1961 to 1965, earning two Pro Bowl nods, and . Green allowed only six receptions for 70 yards on 22 targets while breaking up five and picking off one. Jamel Dean, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 31. The Vikings' gave up the third-most yards on the outside (1,802) while also tying for the third-fewest plays on the ball (18) at the position. Will Harris at least had an admirable 2020 at strong safety, finishing third among all safeties in burn yards per target (7). Jun 5, 2021 5:19 PM EDT. 2021 NFL Defensive Secondary Rankings, by Unit 32. The Eagles aren't the best NFC East team on paper. Only two cornerbacks gave up a big play in coverage more regularly than Okudah, who did so on 43.9% of his targets. worst 2021 cornerback 2021. worst 2021 cornerback 2021. The outlook isnt nearly as rosy heading into 2021 after a noticeable decline in play last season. Nik Needham was an underrated player among the group by producing a top-10 slot coverage grade in the NFL. Minnesota put forth some of the worst cornerback play in the NFL. I wouldnt have any issue calling White the best cornerback in football if Ramsey and Alexander didnt exist. Injuries destroyed the Ravens this past season. Marshon Lattimore was the highlight of a Saints secondary that ranked seventh in coverage grade and allowed an open target at the third-lowest rate in the league. He also ranks in at least the 87th percentile in coverage grades at both alignments. 32. 3 overall pick Jeffrey Okudah in Week 1 for the year with a ruptured Achilles. CORNERBACK PROSPECT RANKING 2023 NFL DRAFT. Williams is Denver's long-term answer at running back . Return to Top; Players. Using advanced data, weve ranked every secondary in the NFL by their performance in pass coverage. name season tm gp tkl ast comb sck scky int int yds int td ff fr fr td; jahleel addae: 2021 Our exclusive database, featuring the most in-depth collection of NFL player performance data. However, Miamis cornerback really blossomed in 2020, intercepting a league-high 10 passes. "Mr. Cross was . What Diggs is doing through six games is absurd. That larger role didnt lead to less impressive coverage numbers. While Tier 4 cornerbacks constantly compete for top-15 spots at the position and are average at worst, Tier 6 corners compete for top-30 spots and sometimes have below . Ranking the 11 worst plays of the 2021 NFL regular season. 1. What do you want out of your elite cornerback? Cornerbacks Jaylon Johnson, Kyler Gordon . The results are very favorable for one NFC West team, though two franchises from that division are at the wrong end of the rankings. Galina: The shortcomings of the Kellen Moore-Dak Prescott connection for the Dallas Cowboys A cause for concern may come across from White after a mediocre year for Levi Wallace, whose adjusted open percentage (30.85) was close to double that of White, but the Bills have to be impressed by the progress of nickel Taron Johnson, who allowed a big play on only 14 of his 74 targets at inside corner last year. However, in White, the Bills have a shutdown corner who can lift the play of those around him. Building a high-powered offense is a sustainable way to win in the NFL, but ensuring the defensive secondary isnt a liability is what separates the contenders from the rest. Still, the Saints defense was great last season and has continued to be so in 2021.
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