The Arizona Cardinals gave cornerback Marco Wilson a long rope in 2023. He started 11 games and played almost every snap for most of those games. But Cardinals fans will remember his struggles in coverage.
After those 11 games, he was benched and didn’t play on defense again, eventually getting released.
How bad was his 2023 season?
Pro Football Focus described it, analyzing some of the most targeted cornerbacks last season.
The former Cardinals cornerback couldn’t find his footing in Jonathan Gannon’s scheme, resulting in the third-worst coverage grade (39.2) among outside cornerbacks. He was attacked relentlessly, surrendering massive yardage. Wilson allowed 2.07 yards per coverage snap, the most by any outside cornerback, in addition to giving up a hearty 11 yards per coverage target, a bottom-three figure at the position.
In 345 cover snaps in 2023, he was targeted 65 times (18.84% of the time) and allowed 50 catches (76.92% of the time).
Only four other players were targeted more. His target rate was the 10th-highest in the league on the outside.
The problem was he was in his third season, not his first.
He went from being the guy the Cardinals hoped would be their No. 1 corner to being the least reliable and eventually cut.
He wasn’t the only one to be targeted a lot and struggle. Starling Thomas made the list as well, but that is for another post.
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