NFL cornerbacks have a lot to deal with these days.
3×1 and empty sets arrayed to present matchup nightmares. Pre-snap motion and shifts that change coverage responsibilities over and over. An uptick in quick game passing that has brought back a press coverage revolution. More and more different route combinations than ever before. Oh, and if you want to be one of the best in the game, it also helps to be a great run-stopper with a knack for blitzing.
Modern NFL cornerbacks, children of the Legion of Boom, are generally bigger and more aggressive than they were a decade ago, but that gives them no relief when it comes to sticking with receivers throughout receiver cuts and routes. A new uprising in match coverage makes that a crucial part of every cornerback’s toolbox. And just about every cornerback, no matter how skilled on the outside, will have to clock some reps in the slot.
Here are Touchdown Wire’s 13 best outside cornerbacks coming into the 2024 season — those guys who can hold it down against iso receivers and trips/bunch combinations no matter what. Generally, they spent at least 80% of their snaps on the outside; we’ll have a separate list of the league’s best slot defenders.
We started our position lists with the NFL’s best safeties, and these are the outside cornerbacks most worthy of your attention.
1. Ahmad "Sauce" Gardner, New York Jets
Were it not for a weird blip in the 2023 season when he looked more mortal than anybody expected in Weeks 1 and 2 against the Bills and Cowboys, Sauce Gardner would have had a second season much like his first — as a lockdown cornerback all the way through. In those two games, Gardner allowed 10 catches on 12 targets for 93 yards, 33 yards after the catch, one touchdown, no interceptions, and an opponent passer rating of 126.7. For the rest of the season, Gardner was right back on his game, allowing 19 catches on 39 targets for 158 yards, 57 yards after the catch, no touchdowns, no interceptions, 11 pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 59.6.
Which was very much in line with Gardner’s Defensive Rookie of the Year season in 2022: 33 catches on 73 targets for 361 yards, 105 yards after the catch, one touchdown, two interceptions, 20 pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 53.5.
The moral of the story seems to be that if you have a sliver of a moment to take advantage of a rare Sauce Gardner backslide, you’d better do it, because it won’t last long. And I, for one, would love to see Gardner play more press coverage.
Overall, Gardner is already the NFL’s best cornerback because he combines size (6′ 2¾”, 190 pounds) with a dawg mentality, and an increasing understanding of the high-level nuances of the position.
2. L'Jarius Sneed, Tennessee Titans
Last season, the Titans played the second-fewest snaps of press coverage behind only the Panthers. General manager Ran Carthon wanted to change that this offseason, and his primary move was to trade for former Chiefs cornerback L’Jarius Sneed and then sign Sneed to a four-year, $76.4 million contract with $55 million guaranteed.
It makes sense, as Sneed was the NFL’s best press cornerback in 2023. He allowed 18 catches on 50 press targets for 4.4 yards per reception, four explosive plays, no interceptions, and no touchdowns. Not that it was his only weapon — overall, he gave up 53 catches on 102 targets for 545 yards, 216 yards after the catch, two touchdowns, two interceptions, 16 pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 66.0 — his career best. But when you have a guy who can just eliminate receivers with his physical profile, that’s what you lead with.
This extended to Super Bowl LVIII, when Sneed allowed two catches on four targets for 23 yards, and compressed San Francisco’s receivers over and over.
3. Jaylon Johnson, Chicago Bears
Jaylon Johnson is one of the primary reasons Utah has become a bit of a defensive back factory in recent years. Selected with the 50th overall pick in the 2020 draft, Johnson has seen major positive bumps in performance in each of his NFL seasons, and the Bears responded this offseason by giving him a four-year, $76 million contract extension with $54.4 million guaranteed.
Johnson proved worthy of that level of regard after a 2023 season in which he allowed 25 catches on 50 targets for 195 yards, 115 yards after the catch, one touchdown, four interceptions, nine pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 33.3 — the lowest for any cornerback playing at least 50% of his team’s snaps. For perspective, DaRon Bland of the Cowboys ranked second at 52.6.
Johnson has every physical attribute you want at the position, but what really stands out when you watch his tape is how smart he is on the field, and how he’s turned himself into a defender who can tie two routes together and go for the ball in the right area, and at the right time. It’s not a common skill, and it stands out when you see it.
Johnson is also an aggressive pass defender, and he can bring it near the line of scrimmage. We think that Peanut Tillman would be proud!
4. Patrick Surtain II, Denver Broncos
There are some big-time shot-callers in the NFL who will tell you that as things stand now, Patrick Surtain II is the NFL’s best cornerback. It’s hard to argue with the tools — the 6-foot-2, 208-pound Surtain moves in coverage like a smaller, more limber guy, and that size shows up when it’s time to take away contested catches.
The Broncos selected Surtain with the ninth overall pick in the 2021 draft, and even in times when Denver’s defense was historically awful (a lot of last season, for example), Surtain still managed to set himself apart. In 2023, he allowed 56 catches on 89 targets for 701 yards, 202 yards after the catch, three touchdowns, one interception, 12 pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 93.9. You have to give Surtain some grace for maintaining a standard of performance when everything was cratering around him, and in 2023, he improved on locking down his transitions in intermediate and deep coverage — one of my rare hesitations about him in previous years when it came to ranking him at the top of the field.
As a press and mirror-match cornerback, Surtain also has everything locked up, and I would expect that to improve. While I’m not quite ready to put Surtain at the top of a cornerback list, he’s got everything you want at the position, and 2024 could be the year he really puts it all together.
5. Martin Emerson Jr., Cleveland Browns
The Browns put together a sneaky-good defense under Jim Schwartz in 2023 — at least until C.J. Stroud blew apart their static single-high stuff in the playoffs. One reason Cleveland was able to rank second in Defensive DVOA behind only the Ravens last season (a jump from 18th in 2022) was the efforts of two outstanding outside cornerbacks. We all know how good Denzel Ward is, and we’ll discuss him a bit later later in this list. But Martin Emerson Jr., the 2022 third-round pick from Mississippi State, picked his second NFL season for a breakout in all possible ways.
In 2023, Emerson allowed 36 catches on 73 targets for 498 yards, 161 yards after the catch, one touchdown, four interceptions, 14 pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 53.3. In press coverage, Emerson was absolutely one of the NFL’s best guys, allowing eight catches on 26 targets in aggressive press and mirror-match press man for 4.2 yards per catch, three explosive plays, no touchdowns, and no interceptions — but a lot of disappointed receivers.
And as an off defender, Emerson was just as smooth. It’ll be fascinating what Emerson accomplishes in the 2024 season, and what the Browns are able to do on defense now that he’s become one of Those Guys.
6. Charvarius Ward, San Francisco 49ers
The Chiefs picked Ward up as an undrafted free agent out of Middle Tennessee in 2018, and especially when Steve Spagnuolo became Kansas City’s defensive coordinator in 2019, Ward was tasked at a heavy rate to press up on every receiver he faced. Ward led the NFL in press snaps in his second, third, and fourth seasons. When the 49ers signed him to a three-year, $40.5 million deal with $18,060 million guaranteed in 2022, they wisely kept him on that same track.
Last season for the NFC champs, Ward was in press on 231 of his 1,172 snaps, ranking 10th in the NFL. And when targeted in press, Ward allowed 14 catches on 34 reps for 6.0 yards per reception, three explosive plays, one touchdown, and two interceptions.
But that’s not all, folks. Ward also become a fully-realized pass defender. Overall, no matter the coverage in 2023, Ward allowed 55 catches on 101 targets for 653 yards, 245 yards after the catch, three touchdowns, five interceptions, an astonishing 23 pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 66.0.
7. Denzel Ward, Cleveland Browns
As we discussed in the Martin Emerson Jr. portion of our program, The Browns have two elite cornerbacks, which is a nice place to be. Emerson was Cleveland’s breakout defender in 2023, while Ward was expected to be a force multiplier from the moment he entered the facility. Selected with the fourth overall pick in the 2018 draft out of Ohio State, Ward has played at a very high level through countless changes in defensive coordinators and concepts.
In 2023, Ward had one of his best seasons in Jim Schwartz’s singe-high dominant schemes — the Browns played 65% of their defensive snaps in either Cover-1 or Cover-3. And in those schemes (along with a healthy dose of Cover-2 and almost no Quarters), Ward allowed 35 catches on 68 targets for 488 yards, 278 yards after the catch, three touchdowns, two interceptions, 12 pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 77.3. This despite missing time last season with shoulder and knee injuries.
Ward is a scheme-transcendent player for the most part because he puts as much teach tape on the field as any cornerback in the game today. He can break to the ball in short areas out of press coverage just as easily as he can trail deep receivers in off and match coverage.
Ward goes into his age 27 season with a great combination of play speed, acuity to diagnose route concepts, and a full array of tools required for the position at the highest level.
8. Joey Porter Jr., Pittsburgh Steelers
The 2022 Steelers defense wanted to be aggressive in coverage. The bad news is that with the cornerbacks they had, they weren’t good at it at all. So, the plan was to take Penn State’s Joey Porter Jr. with the first pick in the second round of the 2023 draft. It made sense, as Porter was the most aggressive press cornerback in his draft class, and he took those skills immediately to his NFL team.
The only 2023 rookie on our list allowed 27 catches on 57 targets last season for 404 yards, 137 yards after the catch, one touchdown, one interception, nine pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 69.6. Porter lined up in press on 227 of his 876 snaps, allowing 19 catches on 37 press targets for 7.6 yards per catch, five explosive plays, no touchdowns, and that one interception. Moreover, he was immediately one of the NFL’s better play destroyers in the red zone, as multiple opposing quarterbacks and receivers found Porter’s targeted aggressiveness a lot to deal with in compressed spaces.
Porter can match and carry, and he’s good in off coverage, but as much as any young cornerback in the NFL right now, his team requires him to be a claustrophobic defender. It seems to be an intrinsic skill.
9. Darious Williams, Los Angeles Rams
The Ravens signed Williams as an undrafted free agent in 2018, and then waived him in October. Then, the Rams added him to their roster, and things got good pretty quickly once Williams was able to find his way on the field. 2020 marked his first season as an NFL starter, and the UAB alum allowed 38 catches on 78 targets for 548 yards, 174 yards after the catch, two touchdowns, five interceptions, 11 pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 55.4.
That put Williams in the sights of the rest of the league, and got him a three-year, $30 million contract from the Jaguars in 2022. That’s when the Rams were more than happy to swoop in with a three-year, $22.5 million contract with just $7 million guaranteed that adds up to both a bargain and a reunion.
In his final season with the Jags (who released him in March), Williams gave up 51 catches on 86 targets for 613 yards, 178 yards after the catch, two touchdowns, four interceptions, 15 pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 69.6.
Williams doesn’t look like a top-tier outside cornerback at 5-foot-9 and 187 pounds, but the tape tells the story. He has no issue whatsoever with timing his jumps to the ball, and turning catches into contested catches into incompletions.
Williams has always been a great match and boundary cornerback, and that it still the case. George Pickens found that out in Week 8.
10. Derek Stingley Jr., Houston Texans
C.J. Stroud is the main name when asking for reasons why the Texans turned from afterthoughts to deep playoff contenders overnight, but let’s not overlook a defense led by head coach DeMeco Ryans that rose from 28th to 16th in Defensive DVOA in Ryans’ first season with defensive coordinator Matt Burke.
Houston’s secondary had to come around for that to happen, and it all started with Derek Stingley Jr., who the Texans took with the third overall pick in the 2022 draft out of LSU. Stingley’s rookie season wasn’t bad, but he proved to be far more opportunistic in 2023, mostly to great effect. Last season, he allowed 26 catches on 48 targets for 395 yards, 61 yards after the catch, five touchdowns, five interceptions, 14 pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 76.6 — despite missing serious time in the first half of the season due to a hamstring issue.
From a pure athleticism standpoint, Stingley can easily match and carry just about every receiver he faces. His touchdowns allowed had a common denominator — losing guys in tight spaces in off coverage — but when he’s pressing a receiver, he’s hard to shake.
If Stingley can overcome those off-coverage transition issues in Year 3, he might just wind up Top 5 on next year’s list.
11. Steven Nelson, Free Agent
Selected in the third round of the 2015 draft out of Oregon State by the Chiefs, Nelson has moved from Kansas City to Philadelphia to Houston through his career, and he’s currently a free agent after his one-year, $5.5 million contract with the Texans expired. All Nelson could do in a case like that was to put together a career year, and that’s what he did. In 2023, Nelson allowed 45 catches on 74 targets for 711 yards, 152 yards after the catch, one touchdown, five interceptions, 15 pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 69.1.
Other teams may be wary of giving too much money to a cornerback coming into his age 31 season, but I would expect somebody to try and load it up on the front end of a new deal, because Nelson’s 2023 tape was extremely impressive. He locked down a lot of the best receivers he played against, and showed the kind of athleticism and field sense that makes great cornerbacks great.
And Nelson was able to do it in just about every scheme, with any technique required. At some point, Nelson’s phone will ring with the right deal. Based on his 2023 season, he’ll be a fine addition (in the short term at least) just about anywhere.
12. DaRon Bland, Dallas Cowboys
Is DaRon Bland a great cornerback, or has he lucked into all his turnovers? As is usually the case with such complicated questions, the answer lies somewhere in-between either side. What we do know is that in his second NFL season, the 2022 fifth-round pick out of Fresno State had a year for the ages. Only 77 players in the entire history of pro football have ever had a season with more than the nine interceptions Bland had in 2023. And Bland allowed just 52 catches on 93 targets for 730 yards, 278 yards after the catch, three touchdowns, those nine picks, 15 pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 52.6.
So, Bland isn’t one of those Marcus Peters/Trevon Diggs guys where the touchdowns are nearly as plentiful as the interceptions, and you’re never quite sure where to land. If you watch the sum total of Bland’s work, you will absolutely see snaps, and stretches in games, where he’s out of phase and he needs to figure it out. But you will also see more than enough instances in which Bland’s athleticism and technique show up at the right time.
Is DaRon Bland a perfect cornerback after two NFL seasons? Hardly, but maybe that’s why he’s had to raise himself up from fifth-round status. He’s also more than just an innocent bystander.
One thing that stood out to be regarding Bland’s 2023 work was that he’s becoming a troublesome defender on all kinds of routes — something else that speaks well for his NFL future.
13. Paulson Adebo, New Orleans Saints
Quietly, the Saints have put together quite the cornerback room. There’s Marshon Lattimore, who most people already know about. There’s Alontae Taylor, who became a premier press cornerback in his second NFL season. There’s the underrated Isaac Yiadom, who the 49ers stole away. And there’s second-round pick Kool-Aid McKinstry from Alabama, who should fit Dennis Allen’s coverage concepts like the proverbial glove.
But the Saints cornerback who stood out at an accelerated rate was Paulson Adebo, the 2021 third-round pick out of Stanford. 2022 was a rough season for Adebo; he allowed 48 catches on 69 targets for 652 yards, 222 yards after the catch, five touchdowns, no interceptions, seven pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 123.6.
You want the light to come on for young players, especially after a disappointing season like that, and Adebo turned things around quite definitively in 2023. Last season, he gave up 50 catches on 88 targets for 753 yards, 258 yards after the catch, one touchdown, four interceptions, 18 pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 69.9.
I’m generally wary of overselling cornerbacks with one great season after two “interesting” ones, but Adebo showed enough development in enough ways to push his way onto this here list. One thing that stood out was his improvement when it came to reading half the field.
Adebo was also much more adept at avoiding getting bollixed off the line by foot-fakes and counters. He now has a great combination of explosiveness and patience.
Honorable Mention
Jalen Ramsey, Miami Dolphins
Jaycee Horn, Carolina Panthers
Christian Gonzalez, New England Patriots
Cam Taylor-Britt, Cincinnati Bengals
Trevon Diggs, Dallas Cowboys
Marlon Humphrey, Baltimore Ravens
