Everything’s bigger in Texas, they say. But when the Dallas Cowboys defense is on the field, their starting cornerbacks are both among the best in the league at making things exponentially smaller for opposing quarterbacks. Like throwing windows and completion rates.
Pro Football Focus has released its list of the top 10 press cornerbacks, and Trevon Diggs and Anthony Brown both make an appearance, speaking well of the vast improvements made to the defense overall last season in Dan Quinn’s first year as coordinator.
But press coverage is about the player more than the scheme. And PFF’s Conor McQuiston caveats his countdown by admitting that ranking press cover men is especially tricky business.
But so is throwing against the Cowboys corners, based on the statistics utilized. It’s not just targets and pass breakups and yards; but target percentage, yards per route run allowed, and percentage of targets charted as “open,” among others- and the weights given for each stat that make up a composite score for each player.
Dallas isn’t the only team with two representatives on this list. The New Orleans Saints duo of Marshon Lattimore and Chauncey Gardner-Johnson came in at Nos. 4 and 5, respectively.
The rankings represent 2021 performance and are not necessarily meant to be forward-looking projections.