• Finest total protection defender: Trent McDuffie, Kansas Metropolis Chiefs — Over the course of the 12 months, McDuffie has posted the second-highest optimistic grade fee, leads the NFL in Lockdown Share by a large margin and ranks fifth in PFF protection grade. As a cornerstone of one of many league’s prime defenses, McDuffie’s contributions have been instrumental to the Chiefs’ success.
• Most pressured incompletions: Denzel Ward, Cleveland Browns — Ward concluded the 2024 season with 17 pressured incompletions and a league-leading 24.3% pressured incompletion fee. Whereas accidents have been a recurring problem all through his profession, Ward showcased his elite potential when wholesome, as evidenced by his record-setting tempo over the primary 13 weeks of the season.
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Estimated studying time: 4 minutes
If quarterback is an important place on the soccer area, then limiting the effectiveness of that participant is an important factor a protection can do. A workforce can do that in two methods: It will possibly strain the passer to disrupt his timing, rhythm and accuracy, or it may possibly shut down the opposing receivers.
Every week, after each NFL recreation is graded and reviewed, PFF will test in on the highest cornerbacks of the 2024 season.
Final 12 months, these rankings mixed PFF protection grades with our Profitable Protection Over Anticipated (SCOE) metric, which measures how effectively every protection defender carried out on non-targeted protection snaps. We grade each protection defender’s potential to forestall separation, whether or not they’re focused on the play or not.
These rankings make the most of that very same knowledge this 12 months however with play-level normalization and expectation changes. In any case, matching up with a receiver is harder than masking operating again, and enjoying man protection is usually harder than matching in a zone.
Listed below are the highest 32 cornerbacks on the conclusion of the 2024 common season.
