Tag: steven nelson

The NFL’s best cornerbacks in man coverage

The ability to play man coverage has always been highly important in the NFL. Who’s best at it coming into the 2020 NFL season?

Through the NFL’s eras, the ability to play man coverage at a high level has separated the best defenders from the rank and file in the minds of many. Al Davis built several historically great defenses on the backs of great man cornerbacks from Willie Brown to Lester Hayes. Deion Sanders’ ability to erase his section of the field without boundary help allowed his defensive coordinators to take all kinds of risks in other areas.

And today, the NFL’s best secondary belongs to the Patriots, who have combined the ideal man coverage defensive backs with a high rate of Cover-0, Cover-1, Cover-2 Man, and certain kinds of combo coverages that allow those players to bring out their best attributes. When you have NFL offenses relying more and more on quick-game passes, one-step drops, and RPOs, playing quality man coverage, especially at the short and intermediate levels of the defense, it just as important as it’s ever been, albeit for new and challenging reasons.

Who are the NFL’s best man coverage cornerbacks heading into the 2020 season — the ones who play with a unique combination of speed, quickness, aggressiveness, and a convenient amnesia to move on to the next play when things go wrong? Based on tape study and metrics from Sports Info Solutions and Pro Football Focus, here are the league’s most efficient defenders when it comes to this highly valuable skill.

Kevin King | Marcus Peters | William Jackson III | Bradley Roby | Quinton Dunbar | Steven Nelson | Tre’Davious White | Tre Flowers | Stephon Gilmore | Jason McCourty | J.C. Jackson

11. Kevin King, Green Bay Packers

(© Wm. Glasheen/USA TODAY NETWORK-W, Appleton Post-Crescent via Imagn Content Services, LLC)

Last season, the Packers played man coverage on 32% of their snaps, 18th-highest in the league, but when they did, King was there to make sure it mattered. In 2019, he allowed 29 catches on 39 man coverage targets for 349 yards, no touchdowns, two interceptions, three more dropped picks, and an opposing QBR of 56.14.

At 6’3″ and 200 pounds, King is one of the better new wave of big, physical press conerbacks developing right now. Aggressive to a fault off the line of scrimmage (and occasionally too grabby), King makes quick slants and drag routes very difficult for opposing receivers, because he has the size, physicality, and short-area quickness to erase those concepts. He will occaionally get lost on the back stem of longer routes, and smaller, quicker receivers can give him fits at times, but that can be said of most bigger cornerbacks, and when King trusts his instincts and doesn’t over-concentrate through the route, he’s just fine. The third-year man from Washington is one to watch.

Kevin King | Marcus Peters | William Jackson III | Bradley Roby | Quinton Dunbar | Steven Nelson | Tre’Davious White | Tre Flowers | Stephon Gilmore | Jason McCourty | J.C. Jackson

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Steelers restructure contract of CB Steven Nelson

Pittsburgh continues to move money around to create salary cap for this season.

The Pittsburgh Steelers continue to maneuver in order to free up more salary cap space for 2020. Pittsburgh has restructured the contracts of several players including tight end Vance McDonald and quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. Another player who re-worked his contract was cornerback Steven Nelson.

Nelson’s restructure will free up an additional $3.67 million and puts the Steelers on a more comfortable financial footing for this season. Nelson had a big 2019 season and was key to the turnaround of the Steelers defense.

The problem with this move and all these other restructures if they are mortgaging the future to some degree. Pittsburgh just pushes more and more money to 2021 with every deal they make.

Nelson finished 2019 with 61 total tackles and one interception. Pro Football Focus gave him an 80.5 grade on the season which made him the seventh-best cornerback in the NFL in 2019.

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Steelers CB Steven Nelson calls out Bleacher Report for analysis

Steven Nelson isn’t holding back on Bleacher Report.

If you ever wondered if NFL players read what’s written about them, this should answer your question. Bleacher Report put out an article that included talking about the quality of the Pittsburgh Steelers secondary. In it, the author noted there were concerns with the starting cornerback position opposite Joe Haden. This is the spot held down by Steven Nelson and he didn’t appreciate the lack of insight in the comments.

Nelson took to Twitter looking for the moderator of the Bleacher Report so they could have a conversation about it.

The comment in context was legitimately lacking any level of research by the author. Nelson might not have had the volume of interceptions or passes defended some other top cornerbacks have had, but this is largely it is because teams knew there was no point in throwing Nelson’s way so they gave up trying.

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Shots fired: Steelers CB Steven Nelson goes after critical fans

Steven Nelson isn’t a fan of couch coaching, I guess.

After the Pittsburgh Steelers embarrassing 17-10 loss to the Buffalo Bills, critics on social media were out in droves. Probably the biggest targets of the fan’s vitriol are the coaches, especially offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner.  Steelers cornerback Steven Nelson was paying attention and took a not-so-subtle shot at the fans who criticized the team’s performance.

Don’t misunderstand, we get where Nelson is coming from. There are parts of the game that no matter how close you watch or how much you know about the game you cannot be privy to unless you are on the sidelines.

Having said that, some of the problems last night were pretty obvious. Are fans supposed to not point out how ridiculous it was to keep going back to the wildcat or the struggles the Steelers defense had in stopping the Bills run game and wide receiver John Brown? Say what you will about coaching from your living room but when fans can see the glaring mistakes a team is making from a distance, just imagine how bad it looks up close.

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Steelers CB Steven Nelson makes catch of the game in warmups

Check out Steven Nelson’s crazy one-handed catch.

Some people say cornerbacks aren’t wide receivers because they can’t catch. Don’t tell Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Steven Nelson this. During warmups before they take on the Arizona Cardinals Nelson went high to haul in this ridiculous one-handed catch and even made the point to get both feet down in the end zone.

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Steelers Week 10 gut reactions

The Pittsburgh Steelers found a way to win their fourth straight game.

It was ugly but the Pittsburgh Steelers managed to pull off their fourth straight win with a 17-12 victory over the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday. The game was hard to watch with the two teams combining for 24 penalties, six turnovers and displaying poor offenses. That being said, here are my gut reactions.

I mentioned the high amount of penalties already, but the offense was absolutely horrid. I’m going to come out and say it. People that are saying Mason Rudolph’s development is similar to Ben Roethlisberger his rookie season are wrong. Rudolph was essentially given the whole 2019 season to prove to the fans, coaches, ownership and his peers that he was the Steelers quarterback of the future, and if anything, there are more questions now about his future than in Week 2. When Roethlisberger was a rookie, he entered his first game in Week 2 at the Ravens and including the playoffs, the Steelers rattled off 15 straight wins on their way to losing the AFC championship game.

Looking back at that season, Roethlisberger was more limited in his pass attempts. Rudolph had 38 attempts Sunday and seems to be limited in effectiveness and productivity. Roethlisberger was assisted by an effective running game, something Rudolph has not been lucky enough to experience. The Steelers averaged 1.6 yards per rush, and the team’s longest run was 8 yards. Rudolph and Roethlisberger are alike in that both have been bolstered by dominate defenses while they attempt to get their footing as an NFL quarterback. Their on-field performances far from parallel one another.

Now that I’ve lashed out at Rudolph’s poor performance, I have to say there’s plenty of blame to go around. The Steelers as a team have not been consistent receivers for Rudolph. Drops are too common. He doesn’t have a run game to set him up in third-and-short situations on a regular basis and just to top things off, if the Steelers manage to move the ball, they usually end up off-setting their production with offensive penalties.

No running game, no receivers, and too many penalties are not the ideal situation for a young quarterback to flourish in. It’s a frustrating situation, which is only emphasized every week because of the defense’s stellar play. When Minkah Fitzpatrick is the Steelers’ best offensive weapon and he’s on defense, changes need to be made.

As bad as the offense has been, the defense continues to impress. They won the turnover battle for the eighth straight game and limited an inconsistent Rams offense to three points. Week 10 was so difficult to pallet, partially because the Steelers offense let the Rams score nine points while the defense held them to three. The defense consistently made big plays, tallying four sacks, four takeaways, three fumbles by the opposing quarterback and a defensive touchdown.

Fitzpatrick has been clutch and showcased rare awareness and ball skills. T.J. Watt entered the game as the highest-graded edge rusher in the NFL, per Pro Football Focus, one point above the Chicago Bears’ Khalil Mack. Watt tallied five tackles and two sacks against the Rams. Steve Nelson has been a shutdown corner across from Joe Haden, helping shut out Cooper Kupp on Sunday.

Just to top it off, defensive captain Cameron Heyward entered the day as the third-highest graded interior defensive lineman at PFF and was extremely disruptive. He had three tackles, a sack, two passes defended, and three of the Steelers’ nine quarterback hits. Even that impressive stat line doesn’t sum up just how dominant he was at the point of attack. With the Steelers winning four in a row, the NFL has to wonder just how good this defense truly is.

The Steelers leave the friendly confines of Heinz Field on a short week to play the Cleveland Browns on national TV Thursday night. The Browns got their third win of the year in Week 10 at home against a surging Buffalo Bills team. But their offensive line has been extremely shaky, which has forced Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield force the ball downfield under pressure. Mayfield is second in the NFL with 12 interceptions thrown. Don’t look now, but the Steelers are vying for an AFC wild-card spot.

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