Cornerback is one of the hardest positions to evaluate with advanced metrics alone.
The best corners are obvious because they either allow a low completion percentage, are rarely targeted, or wrack up a ton of batted balls and/or interceptions. But even that isn’t enough to decide if a cornerback is entirely good or bad.
Take Cowboys CB Trevon Diggs, for example. He made the Pro Bowl and All-Pro team after leading the NFL with 11 interceptions, but he finished with the 84th-best Pro Football Focus grade and allowed the ninth-most yards per completion.
The Jets’ starting trio of Bryce Hall, Brandin Echols and Michael Carter II are three other defensive backs who played well at times in 2021, but certain numbers don’t always paint a positive picture of their performances.
Because the position is tough to evaluate, Cowboys Wire’s K.D. Drummond created two new advanced statistics for cornerback efficiency: adjusted net passing yards allowed per target (ANYA/T) and adjusted net passing yards allowed per coverage snap (ANYA/CS). These two metrics help provide proper context for a cornerback’s true coverage skills.
Neither statistic suggests Hall, Echols and Carter II were anything more than average in 2021, though.
Echols was easily the Jets’ best cornerback by both marks. He finished 2021 with the 34th-best ANYA/T (6.12 yards) out of 78 qualifying cornerbacks, per Drummond. His ANYA/CS ranked 45th at 1.00 yards. Carter II finished with a 7.82 ANYA/T and a 1.21 ANYA/CS, which ranked 53rd and 63rd, respectively. Hall’s 8.57 ANYA/T and 1.40 ANYA/CS ranked 63rd and 73rd, respectively.
For reference, Packers CB Rasual Douglas finished first with an absurd 0.33 ANYA/T and 0.04 ANYA/CS. The rest of the top-10 in both categories allowed 2.32-4.63 ANYA/T and 0.39-0.60 ANYA/CS.
Coincidentally, these numbers are actually better than the Jets trio’s other statistics. Only Carter II finished in the top-100 of defensive players in average yards per completion allowed, while Echols and Hall finished in the top-100 in completion percentage allowed. Echols struggled in coverage plenty of times and Hall allowed the fourth-most touchdowns among cornerbacks (7).
Although their numbers aren’t fantastic, all three have a lot of room to grow – especially in the takeaway department. Echols led the group with two interceptions this year. Their youth is their biggest asset, though. All three are under the age of 25 – Hall and Echols are 24, while Carter is just 22 – which means they’re entirely malleable.
The Jets’ room could use at least one more quality cornerback, but it remains to be seen if Robert Saleh and Joe Douglas agree. They were content with running this trio out for most of the 2021 season despite their inexperience, so it stands to reason they could run it back with the same crew.
