The result was a season where Alexander was worth 1.4 wins above a replacement-level player, almost a full half-win more than any other cornerback. 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. 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. That's when deals are officially negotiated and reported signings fly across . Reader, yet neither made an impact last season due to injury. Reed Jr. and safety Quandre Diggs were two of Seattle's bright spots. The Bengals handed out two big contracts on the defensive side of the ball last offseason. Houston might want to think about using its No. He has picked up coverage grades between 70.4 and 72.4 every season, gradually increasing his playing time each year. Despite being drafted in the top five back in 2018 and playing on a team generating plenty of buzz heading into the 2021 season, Ward is often overlooked as one of the NFLs top cornerbacks. Buffalos secondary endured a crushing blow in Week 12 when CB1 TreDavious White went down with a season-ending torn ACL. 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. Devon Witherspoon is a player who has had the best production throughout 2022 and has been simply elite while . They consistently ranked near the bottom of the league in every metric imaginable, including defensive back, Defensive coordinator Gus Bradley brought his patented Seahawk Cover 3 defense and got the right players in place to carry it out at a quality level. Thats a tip of the cap to everyone in the secondary for stepping up, including 2020 seventh-rounder Dane Jackson, who didnt allow a touchdown in any regular-season start after replacing White. Christian D'Andrea. It doesnt matter where Ramsey is at, though hes been a top-tier player at either position. From Week 7 on, he was one of the 25 highest-graded cornerbacks in the NFL. The 2021 top-10 pick allowed over 60 yards just once last season and led the draft class in combined interceptions and pass breakups (12). The Broncos' secondary underwhelmed to a certain extent in 2021, with veteran safety Kareem Jackson and cornerback free agent pickups Kyle Fuller and Ronald Darby all producing poor coverage grades below 60.0. I simply wont acknowledge any Jalen Ramsey disrespect in this dojo. 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. Contract: three years, $18.6 million. So, which secondaries were a boon and which were a hindrance this season? 18. Safety Jayron Kearse was the highest-graded defensive back on the roster, due in large part to his strong tackling. Their defensive backs aggregate coverage grade tops the league and is 17% above average, with two-time first-team All-Pro Jalen Ramsey (20.45%) and the underrated Darious Williams (21.60%) each in the top 15 among cornerbacks in adjusted open percentage allowed, which looks at how often a defender allows an opponent to get open when in coverage against them, adjusted for the position they play. James Bradberry, New York Giants, 21. 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. Discover Next Gen Stats News, Charts, and Statistics. After a broken-up pass against Wake Forest in 2016, he, . In a pass-heavy league, the cornerback position has grown into one of the most important positions on the football field. Hes a wide receiver baiting quarterbacks into throwing passes that he can jump. Patrick Mahomes, Chiefs. The Rank value requires a minimum number of snaps played. 2022 NFL Cornerback Rankings. 4) New England Patriots: Stephon Gilmore & J.C. Jackson. To look exclusively at the secondary, the results for defenders who spend their playing time almost exclusively in the box have been filtered out. The Raiders entered 2021 on a streak of arguably the worst defensive back play in the entire NFL. 1. 17. A few coverage lapses have led to big plays this year, but that happens in a scheme that relies on communication both pre- and post-snap. The Rams may have lost key pieces in the secondary in the form of safety John Johnson and cornerback Troy Hill but, even with the departure of defensive coordinator Brandon Staley, moving the ball on Los Angeles through the air will be an imposing challenge in 2021. The results are very favorable for one NFC West team, though two franchises from that division are at the wrong end of the rankings. Those missed opportunities only make the 77.5 passer rating allowed over that span (13th in the NFL) more impressive. Shaquill Griffin, Jacksonville Jaguars The 49ers brought in veteran Josh Norman out of necessity at the start of the season, and it didnt go well. Which team has the most wins as road dogs since 2015? Kansas City's defense looked dead in the water after the first five weeks of the season. Williams earned coverage grades above 81.0 in each of the last two years and made some remarkable plays on the ball in coverage in Brandon Staleys defense in 2020. Safety, The Rams' pass-defense unit regressed some from 2020, but make no mistake: This is still an above-average group. Instead, hes heading in the wrong direction. KEY: Gms = Games Played, Tot Pts = Total Points Scored, Pts/G = Points Per Game, RushYds = Rushing Yards, RYds/G = Rushing Yards Per Game . Marlon Humphrey, Baltimore Ravens. Who led the NFL in receiving in 2021? In both 2019 and 2020, he recorded a pressure rate below 9% (per SIS Datahub). Hes intelligent and has ideal size and athleticism. 1. Galina: The shortcomings of the Kellen Moore-Dak Prescott connection for the Dallas Cowboys The Bengals', pass coverage finished the regular season as the seventh-most improved group year over year in terms of EPA allowed per pass. Ramsey produced the highest coverage grade and most PFF WAR among all cornerbacks in the regular season. Patrick Surtain II has been quite literally living up to his name as an elite cornerback and has helped the Denver Broncos maintain their position as a top-tier defense even after trading away their star edge rusher. The slot was also a considerable issue all year long, as Chicago produced the sixth-worst coverage grade at the position this season. Ahmad Gardner, Cincinnati . Mackenzie Alexanders return after a year with the Cincinnati Bengals may see him start at nickel, and he will need to improve after allowing 11.16 burn yards per target from the slot last season. The top cornerbacks for 2022 are all established stars who are all playing some of the best football of their careers. He led the position in interceptions (11), yards allowed (1,026) and penalties (11) this regular season. However, his return came at outside cornerback for the Football Team in 2020, where he put up impressive coverage numbers at his new position. Awuzie was the second-highest graded cornerback of the regular season, while Hilton was the seventh-highest graded slot corner in coverage. Eric Kendricks 639 # . The low-level play ultimately led to his benching by the seasons end. Six cornerbacks played over 100 snaps for the Jaguars in 2021 and only one Shaquill Griffin produced a coverage grade above 60.0. Tampa Bay dealt with a pile of injuries and COVID-19 in their cornerback room for most of the season, forcing the team to cycle through players. Obviously, this is a subjective endeavor, and we could argue for days about the names that are too high or too low. Last week, we took a look at offensive lines. Nonetheless, this year's class doesn't boast a marquee, Denzel Ward or Jalen Ramsey type bound to land inside the top five. We're ranking the division by position group. Having an elite cornerback who is capable of traveling with an opposing team's top receiving threat, such as Jalen Ramsey, can take pressure off other players in the secondary. Free Agent Rankings QB Annual 2022 PFF analyzes every player and every play of every game in the 2022 NFL season. His -37.2 EPA when targeted is twice as productive as any other defender in the league. The Eagles aren't the best NFC East team on paper. White does a fantastic job of toeing the line between aggressive and reckless. Seattle Seahawks: Ahkello Witherspoon, D.J. Browns honorable mention busts: Courtney Brown, (2000, first overall pick), Trent Richardson (2012, third overall pick) 8. The Panthers' outside coverage, in particular, was the weakest link. 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. The lack of talent and experience was apparent, especially without safety, Houstons fielded the lowest-graded secondary in the NFL by a whopping eight grading points. Steven Nelson, Philadelphia Eagles The hope for Miami will be that he gets back toward the player who earned a five-year, $82.5 million contract last offseason. 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. The Patriots boast what could very well be the best of the top cornerback duos in 2021 if Stephon Gilmore has a bounce-back season. . His goal is not to make it so a quarterback doesnt want to throw the ball his way. 22. Rookie Eric Stokes stepped up and grew into his role as the season wore on. The most impressive part is that it all comes in a man-heavy Baltimore defense few cornerbacks in the league possess that kind of ability. Their team slot coverage grade ended up multiple grading points higher than any other NFL franchise. 1. Subscribe to PFF+ to unlock . Denzel Ward, in my opinion, is another year away from being a potential top-five cornerback in the NFL. He battled injuries early in the season, which didnt help in the adjustment to a man-heavy coverage scheme under Brian Flores. Dean allowed a burn on 30 of his 64 targets, his percentage of 46.9 comfortably better than the average of 52.8 for corners with at least 200 coverage snaps. Cornerback Trevon Diggs has been possibly the biggest boom-or-bust cornerback of the PFF era. Butler has been one of the best in the league at getting his hands on the football throughout his career. But from the slot, the Seahawks' coverage unit was a bit of a nightmare. 23. As the passing game has furthered its position as the dominant and most critical aspect of NFL attacks, the need for a secondary with the talent to regularly withstand aerial assaults led by a deep crop of quarterbacks has become an increasingly pressing one. 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. Subscribe to . 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. 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. They ranked dead last in slot coverage grade following the regular season. With the help of. As a result, Diggs' coverage grade rang in just above the 50th percentile among cornerbacks. Return to Top; Players. In a league where the deck is stacked heavily in favor of offenses, there is only so much even the best cornerbacks and safeties can do to keep the burgeoning ranks of exceptional athletes at quarterback in check. Should the Giants opt to move on from the 27-year-old cornerback, they would clear $8.6 million . PFF's exclusive metrics provide matchup previews, position rankings, grades, and snap counts. Alexander has those piercing eyes that make him and Randall Cobb look related, and I cant imagine having to line up against him with those things staring a hole through the crown of my nose. 19. Darius Big Play Slay played a big part in the Eagles cracking a spot in the top half of the league. The Bills defensive backs rank 15 points above the average in aggregate coverage grading. Ive already written my story on Trevon Diggs. 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. 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. 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. If that remains the case, Buffalos secondary should stay among the best in the league even with only marginal improvements made by his teammates. Cornerback was a major area of concern for the Cardinals. Most tackles since 2015:1. 16 ranking despite the team's poor state overall. So this is one of the worst cornerback trios in the NFL, not just the NFC West. Williams is Denver's long-term answer at running back . Patrick Surtain II, Alabama. 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