To be a cornerback in the National Football League is one of the hardest things to do in any sport. To be a top-tier cornerback at the highest level for any length of time is even more difficult, because the difference between 100% and 90% at that altitude can mean that your time in the positive spotlight is over in a hurry.
Losing even a fraction of a step can be professionally fatal. And no cornerback, no matter how great they have been at their peaks, can escape it.
There’s also the matter of working with coaches who don’t understand what you do best. That can take your talent out of the picture in a big hurry.
Through the first six weeks of the 2022 season, we’ve already seen a handful of formerly A-level cornerbacks with declining performances. On the field, they’ve not been the players they were, and you want to analyze whether it’s up to physical ability, or coaching, or scheme.
There are other cornerbacks who have struggled this season, but we can put that down to injuries at this time — Miami’s Xavien Howard has been pushing through a groin issue that is obviously affecting his speed on the field, so we don’t know if that’s what is keeping Howard from his usual status as one of the NFL’s best man defenders. What we’re dealing with here is more about four great cornerbacks who are struggling at a heretofore unimaginable level, and why that might be.