The NFC East is home to the NFL’s top-ranked cornerback, but based on some advanced metrics and analytics, that player doesn’t currently reside in the Dallas, Forth Worth metro area.
KD Drummond is a podcaster, writer, and managing editor of The Cowboys Wire, and he recently revealed a new formula that helps better evaluate NFL cornerback play.
Hoping to quantify cornerback performances better after Trevon Diggs was ridiculed for allowing chunks of yardage last season, Drummond developed a metric that rates the adjusted net yards allowed per coverage snap.
Adjust Net Yards per Attempt, or ANY/A, is an advanced metric formula that translates touchdowns and interceptions thrown into yardage equivalents and has a ridiculously good correlation to victory. What we did was translate the formula to coverage to better qualify how corners were playing on a per-coverage-snap basis.
The ANYA/CS metric = ((Passing Yards Allowed-Return Yardage) + (Passing TDs Allowed – Return TDs)*20 – (INTs)*45)) / (Coverage Snaps).
Statistics Used:
Pro Football Focus: Coverage Snaps
Pro Football Reference: Interceptions, Targets, Yards Allowed, Touchdowns Allowed, Return Yards, Return TDs
Using this formula, Philadelphia had three players land in the top 12, two in the top five, and James Bradberry as the No. 1 cornerback on the list through four weeks of action.
James Bradberry
1. James Bradberry, Philadelphia, -0.26
Darius Slay
4. Darius Slay, Philadelphia, 0.12
Avonte Maddox
12. Avonte Maddox, Philadelphia, 0.51
