Interceptions are far from the best arbiter of defensive back excellence. There are cornerbacks who pick off all kinds of passes, and that tends to obscure the plays they allow. Dallas Cowboys cornerback Trevon Diggs was an optimal example in 2021. The second-year man from Alabama had 11 interceptions, one of the highest single-season totals in pro football history — but he also allowed 27 catches on 101 targets for 1,068 yards, 453 yards after the catch, five touchdowns, and an opponent passer rating of 70.8.
It could easily be argued that Diggs’ 2022 season, in which through the first four weeks he allowed 14 catches on 25 targets for 156 yards, 63 yards after the catch, one touchdown, two interceptions, and a 54.8 opponent passer rating, to be the better season overall — at least, to start.
That said, we like our cornerbacks to grab interceptions. And in Sunday’s early slate of games, there was an absolute festival of picks taken by rookie cornerbacks. Five first-year cornerbacks had thefts n those games, and perhaps even more interestingly, there were three first-round cornerbacks with their first career interceptions… and two third-day picks who had already picked off passes earlier in the season.
Let’s go through all five of these plays, and look at how they happened.