Demario Davis 6634. It shouldnt come as a shock if he wins that starting job and rebounds from a down 2020 season. The Raiders entered 2021 on a streak of arguably the worst defensive back play in the entire NFL. The back-to-back AFC champions stood at a 2-3 record, and the secondary was performing at league-low levels. Jamel Dean, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 31. Unfortunately for Detroit, one of those corners is now on their roster. Howards 2020 performance put that playmaking ability on full display, with double-digit pass breakups and interceptions to go along with an 89.6 coverage grade. 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. Jalen Ramsey, Los Angeles Rams The top 2021 Cornerback prospects available for the 2021 NFL Draft. He ended up allowing 0.37 yards per coverage snap the third-lowest figure in the PFF era behind only Asante Samuel in 2019 and Nnamdi Asomugha in 2008 (0.36 each). Not a single one of Dallas' top eight defensive backs by snaps earned a coverage grade in poor territory below 60.0. After profiling as one of the top cornerbacks in the league from 2014 to 2018, Slay has taken a noticeable step back the past two seasons. Rhodes will look to continue to build on that success on another one-year deal with the team in 2021. The 2021 second-round pick is a valuable piece to this secondary moving forward, but the other cornerback spots need some work. Two free-agent signings, in particular Chidobe Awuzie and Mike Hilton have helped them get there. Rookie Patrick Surtain II also showed a lot of promise and looks like a star in the making. When Diggs is targeted, the opponents quarterback rating is 45. The NFL in 2014 settled a class action lawsuit with retired . Marcus Peters, Baltimore Ravens Howard has struggled so far in 2021, but the same can be said for the entire Dolphins defense. Houston Texans: Whitney Mercilus, OLB. 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. If that remains the case, Buffalos secondary should stay among the best in the league even with only marginal improvements made by his teammates. Greedy Williams, Cleveland Browns Find out which wide receivers to upgrade, downgrade and avoid for Week 1 in fantasy football by using a full cheat sheet that breaks down every WR vs. CB matchup. No group of cornerbacks played more man coverage than the Miami Dolphins. Hes a wide receiver baiting quarterbacks into throwing passes that he can jump. 23. The safety pairing of Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer may also be hoping for a bounce-back year, with the latter having allowed a burn on 13 of his 28 targets at free safety in 2020. Cowboys: 6-10. 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. MORE: The 10 most intriguing prospects in the 2023 NFL draft class. 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. After a 3-0 start to the 2021 season, the Carolina Panthers were figured out on both sides of the ball. 8 forced fumbles in 2020. Reader, yet neither made an impact last season due to injury. Nov 15, 2020; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; New Orleans Saints quarterback Jameis Winston (2) celebrates after a touchdown by running back Alvin Kamara . 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. 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. After a broken-up pass against Wake Forest in 2016, he, . His goal is not to make it so a quarterback doesnt want to throw the ball his way. 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. Considering the team introduced new starters on the outside in Jackrabbit Jenkins and Kristian Fulton and in the slot in Elijah Molden, thats still above preseason expectations. The Packers signed veteran Rasul Douglas midseason, and he far surpassed expectations with a 76.5 coverage grade. Cross died in 2021. Another of those factors was health, as Darby played over 600 defensive snaps in 2020 for the first time in four seasons. The tandem tormented AFC quarterbacks for years. Heck, he played more snaps in the slot in 2020 than he did on the outside. Brian Poole (not re-signed) was the only cornerback to hold opponents to negative EPA per target in 2020. . 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. Xavien Howard picked an opportune time to hold out for a new contract.. Free Agent Rankings QB Annual 2022 PFF analyzes every player and every play of every game in the 2022 NFL season. NAME GP TKL AST COMB SCK SCKY INT INT YDS INT TD FF FR FR TD; Tom Farris: 11: 4: 43: 0: 1: 0: Steve Filipowicz Cross, the former NFL defensive back who became the first Black man to work full-time as a sports analyst on national television, is the latest football player diagnosed with the brain disease CTE. 4) New England Patriots: Stephon Gilmore & J.C. Jackson. He gets to passes that most receivers cannot get to, making his multiple near-INTs in 2021 as impressive as his 7 actual interceptions. Taron Johnson, Buffalo Bills However, his return came at outside cornerback for the Football Team in 2020, where he put up impressive coverage numbers at his new position. However, I prefer to look at this exercise as a nod of respect toward the top cornerbacks in the NFL for the 2021 season. In 2019 and 2020, for instance, he played more in the slot than out wide. 2021 stats: 11 games (11 starts), 1 INT, 6 PBUs, 1 FF, 1 FR, 0.5 sacks, 41 combined tackles (27 solo). Although Ringo grew up dreaming of scoring touchdowns, his path to being a high draft pick could come because of his ability to prevent them. 247Sports Composite. . 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. That's when deals are officially negotiated and reported signings fly across . He battled injuries early in the season, which didnt help in the adjustment to a man-heavy coverage scheme under Brian Flores. Subscribe to His 17.3% forced incompletion rate ranks second among cornerbacks who have seen at least 100 targets over those two years. So, which secondaries were a boon and which were a hindrance this season? Nelson was another surprise release by a team strapped for salary cap space. And star cornerback Jalen Ramsey is a huge reason why. They each produced coverage grades above 70.0 for the season. 17. March 1, 2023 7:01 am ET. Its challenging to rank these guys with the multitude of schematic differences and responsibilities. Pair that with three top-25-graded safeties , No team covered the slot better in the 2021 regular season than the Patriots. The Buccaneers game in Week 5 was the culmination of bad luck early in the season, and it resulted in Howard allowing a season-high 89 yards in coverage. . Despite that, the Buccaneers outside cornerbacks still combined for the highest unit coverage grade in the NFL. Terrell locked up his opponents on a weekly basis, allowing no more than 32 yards in a single game this year. The yards on Diggs ledger are largely hollow. 20. . Jackson missed the majority of the 2020 season with a lingering knee injury, but he profiled as one of the most promising young cornerbacks in the league before last year, fresh off a career-high 82.5 coverage grade in 2019. 29. Since 2017, he has forced more incompletions on passes 20-plus yards downfield (18) than he has receptions allowed (14). / by Eric Mullin. While Gang Green endured a turbulent 2019, Poole was one of the team's top performers week in and week out. They consistently ranked near the bottom of the league in every metric imaginable, including defensive back PFF WAR generated: 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. So this is one of the worst cornerback trios in the NFL, not just the NFC West. Who looks to be a top-10 cornerback in the NFL right now? His 3,546 regular-season defensive snaps over the past four seasons are a top-10 mark at the position. And there are a couple of surprise names feature among those secondaries who look ready to take a leap in 2021. Denzel Ward, in my opinion, is another year away from being a potential top-five cornerback in the NFL. The Seahawks appear to be banking on Ahkello Witherspoon making a leap he never managed with the San Francisco 49ers. Which teams have the best -- and worst -- running back units? Since 2019, Marlon Humphreys done exactly that in Wink Martindales aggressive man-to-man scheme. The Packers still fielded a top-10-graded cornerback room this season despite losing one of the best cover corners in the game for most of the 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. Dean expanded his role in the Buccaneers defense from fewer than 400 snaps in 2019 to 935 defensive snaps this past season. The Jets might have the best group of cornerbacks in the NFL a far cry from 2021, when they might have had the worst. And we mustnt forget about the impact of rookie safety Jevon Holland. A ranking of the 2021 Best NFL Cornerback Players. He grew up in . Bryce Callahan, Denver Broncos NFL teams most likely to unravel in 2021. Pittsburgh also went from second to 29th in passer rating allowed on deep targets year over year. But from the slot, the Seahawks' coverage unit was a bit of a nightmare. Yet, between Mullens progress, the arrival of Hayward and the selection of free safety Trevon Moehrig in the second round of this years draft, the Raiders secondary is one that looks primed to establish itself as one of the better groups in the NFL. 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. (Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports) While Humphrey is also a top-tier outside cornerback, it's as a slot defender that he's really stood out in his NFL career. Design by Matt Sisneros. 32. In both 2019 and 2020, he recorded a pressure rate below 9% (per SIS Datahub). And star cornerback, Cincinnatis passing offense wasnt the team's only unit to take a major leap in 2021. In 2021, the two 25-year-olds each missed several games but allowed under 700 yards in coverage combined. CORNERBACK PROSPECT RANKING 2023 NFL DRAFT. Sign Up. Obviously, this is a subjective endeavor, and we could argue for days about the names that are too high or too low. 90-81. T. Washington: 7-9. T.J. Green has played because of . Should the Giants opt to move on from the 27-year-old cornerback, they would clear $8.6 million . The 2021 first-round pick was the lone Falcons defensive back to play 200 snaps and earn a PFF grade north of 60.0. The secondary finished 26th in unit coverage grade and ranked in the bottom 10 in passer rating, yards per attempt and separation allowed when the quarterback threw from a clean pocket. That all came to a halt with the Chargers in 2020, as Hayward earned a PFF grade of just 59.5 while allowing nearly 17 yards per reception into his coverage. I still expect a lot from Stephon Gilmore, and with those expectations will come quick criticism if he doesnt perform to his standards. The Pro Bowl free safety will have an exciting mix of experience and youth alongside him. Now the question is, are they able to maintain that if they undergo another coaching change? 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. Six cornerbacks played over 100 snaps for the Jaguars in 2021 and only one Shaquill Griffin produced a coverage grade above 60.0. 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. 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. See trending; Company. To further my point, Matthew Staffords EPA is 39, and hes an MVP candidate at quarterback. 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. 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 is expected to compete with 2020 first-round pick Damon Arnette for one of the starting jobs in Las Vegas, reuniting with defensive coordinator Gus Bradley. TreDavious White has been one of the top cornerbacks in the league since the minute he stepped on an NFL field. 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. Christian D'Andrea. Yet, despite praise for Antoine Winfield Jrs rookie year, both he and fellow starting safety Jordan Whitehead will hope to make improvements in coverage, having given up 11.33 and 12.32 burn yards per target, respectively. This group should contend for the top spot next season. The position as a whole combined for the third-fewest WAR among the 32 groups. increasing that usage from 21 percent in 2021 (29th in NFL . The Detroit Lions were, by most metrics, the worst defensive team in the NFL last year and they probably won't be much better . Humphrey impacts the games in all the ways you want him to. 2020 Points-Allowed Rank: No. The Bengals' pass coverage finished the regular season as the seventh-most improved group year over year in terms of EPA allowed per pass. 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. His 71 forced incompletions since 2014 are fewer than only Darius Slay and Stephon Gilmore. Bradberry put up solid performances against a difficult slate of NFC South cornerbacks across the first four seasons of his career with the Carolina Panthers, but he took a clear step forward in his first year with the Giants last season. None of their cornerbacks had a quality campaign, but Bashaud Breeland who was waived in mid-December was the main reason for the outside struggles. The Bengals spent over $12.7 million on their cornerbacks against the cap in 2022, which was 6.02% of their total . Still seems like we're waiting for the first domino to fall with the Bears . This is the worst front seven in the NFL. Cornerback Trevon Diggs has been possibly the biggest boom-or-bust cornerback of the PFF era. Led by, Ward and Newsome, in particular, produced top-10 coverage grades when in single coverage. 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. 16 ranking despite the team's poor state overall. Age: 28 (29 on 8/4/23) Playing time: 16 games, 316 special teams snaps (77.07% of team total), 63 defensive snaps (5.99% of team total) Key statistics: 19 tackles, 1 quarterback hit, 4 pass . The Bengals handed out two big contracts on the defensive side of the ball last offseason. Theyre simply on a tier of their own for the time being. His value is easy to see. Tennessees loss has turned into the Giants gain. 15. I wouldnt have any issue calling White the best cornerback in football if Ramsey and Alexander didnt exist. Hes a wide receiver baiting quarterbacks into throwing passes that he can jump. Jackson was one of the five highest-graded outside cornerbacks in the NFL and allowed the second-fewest yards per coverage snap at the position. The amount of top-level play from NFL cornerbacks is astonishing. Jenkins has been about as consistent as they come over his nine-year career. There is no shortage of defensive weapons on Clevelands roster. Fuller is set to be reunited with Vic Fangio in Denver. 2021 NFL Defensive Secondary Rankings, by Unit 32. J.C. Jackson isnt the most consistent cornerback in the world, but hes not necessarily the gambler that Howard and Marcus Peters tend to be. Giants: 6-10. Adoree Jackson, New York Giants Subscribe to PFF+ to unlock . Minnesotas defensive backs rank 10th in aggregate coverage rating, performing 5% better than average. Asante Samuel Jr. showed some positive play at times this season, with seven pass breakups and two interceptions, but he still finished with a triple-digit passer rating allowed en route to being the 11th-most valuable rookie corner. Personally, I want a guy who travels up and down the field on an assignment basis against the opposing teams best receivers. 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worst cornerbacks in the nfl 2021