Wild Card
Surfin' Bird
Changes in coverage
The shutdown cornerback is nearly extinct in NFL
Jeffri Chadiha, SI.com
November 21, 2006
I have to thank New York Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress for the inspiration behind today's column. When he blasted the Chicago Bears cornerbacks two weeks ago, he basically said that Bears Nathan Vasher and Charles Tillman weren't the kind of defenders who worried him. In Burress' eyes, they weren't shutdown cornerbacks. They were products of a system that played to their strengths. It was a comment that eventually came back to haunt Burress -- especially since he did little in the Giants' 38-20 loss to Chicago -- but the man still had a point.
For those who haven't noticed, there are hardly any shutdown cornerbacks left in the NFL. True, anybody with eyes and a general understanding of football can see that Denver's Champ Bailey fits that description, but the list shrinks substantially after him, according to the NFL people interviewed for this story. Many think Atlanta's DeAngelo Hall could be such a player if he continues to develop. Others offer up a less heralded corner like Green Bay's Al Harris. Most also believe that another Packer, Charles Woodson, could easily join Bailey as an elite cover corner if he had more motivation. Aside from those names, everybody agrees that considering anybody else as a shutdown type (that is, a cornerback who excels at man coverage) would be a reach.
After hearing all these answers, my question became obvious: What happened to this marquee position? Back in the 1990's, Deion Sanders made the shutdown cornerback one of the most marketable and highest paying jobs in the game. The man became a recording artist, a host of Saturday Night Live and a frequent reason why opposing offensive coordinators hated facing a defense that employed him. He wasn't alone, either. The league was filled with other talented cornerbacks who were less concerned with self-promotion. You had James Hasty, Rod Woodson, Eric Allen and Darrell Green -- and they all could lock up the most gifted of wideouts. There was no second-guessing those names.
To be honest, I don't think today's cornerbacks are any less talented than those players. What's different, however, is the entire environment that current defensive backs have to endure. The expectations on that position have reached such outrageous levels that man-to-man coverage in the NFL is quickly becoming a lost art. The rules, for one, don't help. When the league decided to penalize defenders for touching receivers more than five yards downfield, they basically "legislated the shutdown cornerback right out of the league," as one AFC personnel director put it.
Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Sheldon Brown says the rules are so biased against defenders these days that "there isn't a cornerback in this league who can hold a receiver down for an entire game anymore." The rules are bad enough, and with today's bigger, faster receivers, it's hard to argue against Brown. And for those defensive backs with enough skill to handle those challenges, there's also the very real possibility that opposing coaches can neutralize them with schemes.
Let me recap the picture that the Broncos saw in a 34-31 loss to Indianapolis on Oct. 29. Instead of testing Bailey by throwing to Indianapolis wide receiver Marvin Harrison continually, Colts quarterback Peyton Manning spent most of the game torching Bailey's teammate, second-year cornerback Darrent Williams. In the end, Colts wide receiver Reggie Wayne finished the day with 10 receptions, 138 and three touchdowns. As Atlanta Falcons offensive coordinator Greg Knapp says, "Ten years ago, you had a lot of teams using two-back, two-wide receiver formations. Now you have a lot of multiple-receiver or two tight-end sets. Even if you have to face a shutdown cornerback, you can scheme to the point that you really don't have to deal with him."
So how have defenses responded to this trend? In the words of another personnel director, "They've basically become more passive." Cover Two has become a more popular scheme because teams don't need great cover corners to play it. They can rely on players with smarts, vision, instincts and the toughness to tackle opposing running backs galloping in their direction. It's easier and cheaper to find players for such a system (Pro Bowlers like Vasher and Tampa Bay's Ronde Barber fall into this category) and it's also smarter to find another way to defend the pass. In fact, one scout says that today's game is all about pressuring the quarterback into making a tough throw. If a good signal-caller gets enough time, he'll pick apart most of the players covering his receivers.
What is also fascinating about this trend is how much it will impact the acquisition of cornerbacks in the future. It's hard to imagine the money paid to free-agent cornerbacks drying up -- it's still one the highest paid positions in the game, with 12 players in 2005 earning more than $6 million in total salary -- but you certainly won't see the heavy demand for so-called cover cornerbacks in the near future. Woodson discovered this when he hit free agency this offseason. Only Tampa Bay and Green Bay were seriously interested in paying him top dollar and the Bucs were talking about converting him to safety.
My point here is that we've quietly seen the end of an era that made football more interesting. Maybe the NFL got tired of 14-10 scores a long time ago. Maybe it just realized that it's easier to market offensive players than defensive stars. Whatever the case, there's a different type of defender roaming secondaries these days and if you're wise, you'll cherish the next chance you get to watch Champ Bailey operate. Unless something changes in the next few years, he's easily one of the last members of a dying breed.
The shutdown cornerback is nearly extinct in NFL
Jeffri Chadiha, SI.com
November 21, 2006
I have to thank New York Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress for the inspiration behind today's column. When he blasted the Chicago Bears cornerbacks two weeks ago, he basically said that Bears Nathan Vasher and Charles Tillman weren't the kind of defenders who worried him. In Burress' eyes, they weren't shutdown cornerbacks. They were products of a system that played to their strengths. It was a comment that eventually came back to haunt Burress -- especially since he did little in the Giants' 38-20 loss to Chicago -- but the man still had a point.
For those who haven't noticed, there are hardly any shutdown cornerbacks left in the NFL. True, anybody with eyes and a general understanding of football can see that Denver's Champ Bailey fits that description, but the list shrinks substantially after him, according to the NFL people interviewed for this story. Many think Atlanta's DeAngelo Hall could be such a player if he continues to develop. Others offer up a less heralded corner like Green Bay's Al Harris. Most also believe that another Packer, Charles Woodson, could easily join Bailey as an elite cover corner if he had more motivation. Aside from those names, everybody agrees that considering anybody else as a shutdown type (that is, a cornerback who excels at man coverage) would be a reach.
After hearing all these answers, my question became obvious: What happened to this marquee position? Back in the 1990's, Deion Sanders made the shutdown cornerback one of the most marketable and highest paying jobs in the game. The man became a recording artist, a host of Saturday Night Live and a frequent reason why opposing offensive coordinators hated facing a defense that employed him. He wasn't alone, either. The league was filled with other talented cornerbacks who were less concerned with self-promotion. You had James Hasty, Rod Woodson, Eric Allen and Darrell Green -- and they all could lock up the most gifted of wideouts. There was no second-guessing those names.
To be honest, I don't think today's cornerbacks are any less talented than those players. What's different, however, is the entire environment that current defensive backs have to endure. The expectations on that position have reached such outrageous levels that man-to-man coverage in the NFL is quickly becoming a lost art. The rules, for one, don't help. When the league decided to penalize defenders for touching receivers more than five yards downfield, they basically "legislated the shutdown cornerback right out of the league," as one AFC personnel director put it.
Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Sheldon Brown says the rules are so biased against defenders these days that "there isn't a cornerback in this league who can hold a receiver down for an entire game anymore." The rules are bad enough, and with today's bigger, faster receivers, it's hard to argue against Brown. And for those defensive backs with enough skill to handle those challenges, there's also the very real possibility that opposing coaches can neutralize them with schemes.
Let me recap the picture that the Broncos saw in a 34-31 loss to Indianapolis on Oct. 29. Instead of testing Bailey by throwing to Indianapolis wide receiver Marvin Harrison continually, Colts quarterback Peyton Manning spent most of the game torching Bailey's teammate, second-year cornerback Darrent Williams. In the end, Colts wide receiver Reggie Wayne finished the day with 10 receptions, 138 and three touchdowns. As Atlanta Falcons offensive coordinator Greg Knapp says, "Ten years ago, you had a lot of teams using two-back, two-wide receiver formations. Now you have a lot of multiple-receiver or two tight-end sets. Even if you have to face a shutdown cornerback, you can scheme to the point that you really don't have to deal with him."
So how have defenses responded to this trend? In the words of another personnel director, "They've basically become more passive." Cover Two has become a more popular scheme because teams don't need great cover corners to play it. They can rely on players with smarts, vision, instincts and the toughness to tackle opposing running backs galloping in their direction. It's easier and cheaper to find players for such a system (Pro Bowlers like Vasher and Tampa Bay's Ronde Barber fall into this category) and it's also smarter to find another way to defend the pass. In fact, one scout says that today's game is all about pressuring the quarterback into making a tough throw. If a good signal-caller gets enough time, he'll pick apart most of the players covering his receivers.
What is also fascinating about this trend is how much it will impact the acquisition of cornerbacks in the future. It's hard to imagine the money paid to free-agent cornerbacks drying up -- it's still one the highest paid positions in the game, with 12 players in 2005 earning more than $6 million in total salary -- but you certainly won't see the heavy demand for so-called cover cornerbacks in the near future. Woodson discovered this when he hit free agency this offseason. Only Tampa Bay and Green Bay were seriously interested in paying him top dollar and the Bucs were talking about converting him to safety.
My point here is that we've quietly seen the end of an era that made football more interesting. Maybe the NFL got tired of 14-10 scores a long time ago. Maybe it just realized that it's easier to market offensive players than defensive stars. Whatever the case, there's a different type of defender roaming secondaries these days and if you're wise, you'll cherish the next chance you get to watch Champ Bailey operate. Unless something changes in the next few years, he's easily one of the last members of a dying breed.
