He earned a 47.4 coverage grade for the regular season while also allowing a 125.0 passer rating when targeted and being called for 10 penalties. Howard is one of the best playmaking cornerbacks that the NFL has to offer. Hes slimmer, and with that lack of cumbersome muscle, hes more efficiently able to transition and stick. 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. His 3,546 regular-season defensive snaps over the past four seasons are a top-10 mark at the position. While Surtain will go early in the 2021 NFL Draft, he is not as good of a prospect as Jalen Ramsey or C.J. Whitney Mercilus has always benefited from the presence of J.J. Watt. Not a single one of Dallas' top eight defensive backs by snaps earned a coverage grade in poor territory below 60.0. Its unfortunate hes not more widely regarded as a ballhawk, but many cant look past the paltry INT numbers to his league-high 8 forced fumbles in 2020. Contract: three years, $18.6 million. The defense endured blows at multiple position groups, including in the secondary with, Detroits secondary has been problematic over the past few years, and it didnt get any better in Year 1 under Dan Campbell. His value is easy to see. Waynes three-year, $42 million contract was likely an overpay, but he does profile as a quality starting option. Humphrey impacts the games in all the ways you want him to. 6 and . But his play has been up and down over that four-year stretch. The Panthers' outside coverage, in particular, was the weakest link. but it was his worst season from a production allowed standpoint since making the switch to cornerback in 2018. Led by, Ward and Newsome, in particular, produced top-10 coverage grades when in single coverage. Brian Poole (not re-signed) was the only cornerback to hold opponents to negative EPA per target in 2020. . Kansas City took Daniel Sorensen off the field while bringing back Juan Thornhill and increasing its rate of dime coverage. Arnettes average of 11.69 suggests he has further to go, and he may face competition with Hayward for the starting role across from Mullen. Free-agent signing William Jackson III was an up-and-down performer. His technical inconsistencies are the only thing keeping him from being among that next tier up. To further my point, Matthew Staffords EPA is 39, and hes an MVP candidate at quarterback. Only three Power 5 defenders gave up fewer. The Rams opted to let 2021's slot cornerback Darious Williams leave via free agency, replacing him by bringing back Troy Hill in free agency. The top cornerback room? Not a single one of Dallas' top eight defensive backs by snaps earned a coverage grade in poor territory below 60.0. There is a massive amount of talent currently at the position. Over the past few weeks, PFF has unveiled its positional rankings and unit rankings for the 2021 NFL season. NFC West teams gained even more firepower at the quarterback position in a dramatic offseason, magnifying the issues for a Seattle secondary that is a long way from the Legion of Boom. Ward and Newsome, in particular, produced top-10 coverage grades when in single coverage. Lattimore possesses everything you could want in a cornerback. Devon Witherspoon is a player who has had the best production throughout 2022 and has been simply elite while . 29. The official start of NFL free agency doesn't begin until March 13. Reader, yet neither made an impact last season due to injury. Heck, he played more snaps in the slot in 2020 than he did on the outside. We often bring up the difficult coverage assignments that No. Pro Football Network strives to passionately deliver purposeful, captivating, and exceptional football content. See trending; Company. Jackson has been one of the stingiest cornerbacks in the league on deep targets since entering the league. After trading Matthew Stafford in 2021 and T.J. Hockenson at the trade deadline last year, the Lions have five picks in the top 81 selections of this year's NFL Draft, including picks No. Tennessees loss has turned into the Giants gain. 16 ranking despite the team's poor state overall. 4) New England Patriots: Stephon Gilmore & J.C. Jackson. He had one of the highest forced incompletion rates in the league this past year with Washington one of several contributing factors to the multi-year deal that Denver offered him. Two free-agent signings, in particular , The Raiders entered 2021 on a streak of arguably the worst defensive back play in the entire NFL. However, I prefer to look at this exercise as a nod of respect toward the top cornerbacks in the NFL for the 2021 season. No group of cornerbacks played more man coverage than the Miami Dolphins. White is right there with Howard as one of the best playmaking cornerbacks in the league. Rankings&Projections |WR/CB Matchup Chart |NFL & NCAA Betting Dashboards | NFL Player Props Tool | NFL & NCAA Power Rankings The Jets four most-played cornerbacks on the outside or slot this year were either Day 3 picks or undrafted in one of the past two classes. . Rookie Eric Stokes stepped up and grew into his role as the season wore on. T.J. Green has played because of . The 2017 first-round pick earned a 76.4 coverage grade and led the league in pass breakups (18) en route to being the second-most valuable cornerback in the league, according to PFF WAR. The slot was also a considerable issue all year long, as Chicago produced the sixth-worst coverage grade at the position this season. If you built a cornerback in a lab, they would look like Ramsey. Verrett exceeded all expectations in his return from a string of injuries last season for San Francisco. PFF's exclusive metrics provide matchup previews, position rankings, grades, and snap counts. 3 overall pick Jeffrey Okudah in Week 1 for the year with a ruptured Achilles. NFL quarterback rankings 2021. With the help of. These rankings are solely analyzing the performance and impact of every secondary in the NFL from the 2021 regular season. Still, the Saints defense was great last season and has continued to be so in 2021. The 2023 corner class doesn't hold any superstars like last year's Sauce Gardner but it still has a number of quality pro prospects with five having close to first-round grades on them. . 11. William Jackson III, Washington Football Team Last season, he allowed 46 slot catches on 72 targets for 392 yards, 167 yards after the catch, one touchdown, no . But two underrated additions could see them catapult into the top five. (Gary Cosby Jr./. 3 overall pick on a defensive back like Derek Stingley Jr. (PFFs No. Published: Oct 20, 2022 at 03:19 PM . And we mustnt forget about the impact of rookie safety Jevon Holland. Instead, hes heading in the wrong direction. Opposite him for most of the season was Kindle Vildor, who posted a 45.6 coverage grade that ranked in the bottom five in the NFL. Ive already written my story on Trevon Diggs. Bradberry's 2021 season, though, was abysmal. Outside of safety Derwin James, the Chargers' secondary left a lot to be desired in 2021. Jalen Ramsey, Los Angeles Rams Davis and Dean form one of the best cornerback pairings in the NFL. T. The Las Vegas Raiders took down the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday Night Football in an overtime thriller, bringing an end to the 18-week marathon to the postseason. Outside corner D.J. He gets his hands on passes left and right without getting himself so out of position that hes unable to recover. That larger role didnt lead to less impressive coverage numbers. To look exclusively at the secondary, the results for defenders who spend their playing time almost exclusively in the box have been filtered out. He had spent the vast majority of his time in the slot across the first four years of his NFL career, even dabbling at safety with the Chiefs in 2019. Still seems like we're waiting for the first domino to fall with the Bears . Episode 2 of the "Top 100 Players of 2022" aired on Sunday, with three cornerbacks making the list between Nos. Home About Shop . KEY: Gms = Games Played, Tot Pts = Total Points Scored, Pts/G = Points Per Game, RushYds = Rushing Yards, RYds/G = Rushing Yards Per Game . Haden may be on the downward slope of his career, but he has provided Pittsburgh with steady play at cornerback since joining the team in 2018 and should continue to do so in 2021. Still, hes a gifted tactician at the position and will get back on his feet this season. In both 2019 and 2020, he recorded a pressure rate below 9% (per SIS Datahub). PFF's exclusive metrics provide matchup previews, position rankings, grades, and snap counts. The back-to-back AFC champions stood at a 2-3 record, and the secondary was performing at league-low levels. However, his return came at outside cornerback for the Football Team in 2020, where he put up impressive coverage numbers at his new position. Outside corner, Opposing quarterbacks netted a 71.8 passer rating when throwing at one of Clevelands outside cornerbacks this season, the lowest among the 32 defenses. Safety Jayron Kearse was the highest-graded defensive back on the roster, due in large part to his strong tackling. Six cornerbacks played over 100 snaps for the Jaguars in 2021 and only one Shaquill Griffin produced a coverage grade above 60.0. It doesnt hurt that Washington can feel comfortable playing him at multiple positions in their secondary, either. He wasnt alone out there, either safety Marcus Williams also helped anchor the group with an 84.3 coverage grade that ranked seventh at the position. Its challenging to rank these guys with the multitude of schematic differences and responsibilities. Hill had his best seasons in LA . Washington possessed one of the better defenses in the NFL in 2020;Jacksons addition should only improve it, giving them a No. 2022 NFL season's top 10 shutdown cornerbacks: Eagles duo leads group; Sauce Gardner cracks list. 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. Lattimores PFF grade has fallen from 86.1 as a rookie to 77.5 (2018), 65.6 (2019) and 59.1 (2020) in the three years since 2017. Justin Simmons was the best defender in the NFL in terms of adjusted open percentage in 2020, leading the way by allowing pass-catchers to get open against his coverage just 14.99% of the time. He gets to passes that most receivers cannot get to, making his multiple near-INTs in 2021 as impressive as his 7 actual interceptions. . Even with the big plays allowed early in the season, quarterbacks have just a 68.1 rating when targeting Lattimore this season. The Patriots did what the Patriots always do they traded (or cut) a player thats still near the top of his game, but is beginning to walk down the hill. The ability to limit production like Ramsey did against top-flight talent is invaluable for the Los Angeles Rams defense. 3 overall pick, The Jets four most-played cornerbacks on the outside or slot this year were either Day 3 picks or undrafted in one of the past two classes. Nickel Byron Murphys burn yards per target average of 7.50 was the fifth-best among inside corners in 2020 and Budda Baker has established himself as one of the premier safeties in the NFL, with his adjusted open percentage of 16.38 trailing only three defenders last season. No team, this season than Baltimore. And yet, the Bills still sustained a top-five pass defense in terms of expected points added (EPA) allowed per pass down the final stretch of the 2021 regular season. Buffalos secondary endured a crushing blow in Week 12 when CB1 TreDavious White went down with a season-ending torn ACL. 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