Last offseason, pre-draft debates raged over which prospects deserved to be atop the premier positions: quarterback, wide receiver, edge rusher, offensive tackle and cornerback. At corner, Ahmad Gardner and Derek Stingley Jr. stood effectively as equals, two near-perfect examples of what you’d like to have in a No. 1 prospect. I’d like to use that CB conversation from last year to reevaluate those two prospects — what I thought then against what I think today — and decipher what matters most in parsing a talented 2023 class of corners.
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Let’s start with the potential Defensive Rookie of the Year. Sauce Gardner fits into Robert Saleh’s New York defense as a lockdown, bump-and run corner, which is an exact match to the way Cincinnati used him in a man-heavy scheme under former defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman (now Notre Dame’s head coach) and former head coach Luke Fickell (now with Wisconsin).
Gardner doesn’t travel with receivers often, but the Jets trust him to cover those elite playmakers. In Week 14, for example, Gardner lined up against Buffalo’s Stefon Diggs multiple times, and Josh Allen didn’t bother to look in his direction much, even when the coverage shell made it evident there would be one-on-one opportunities. In Week 15, on 38 pass attempts, Lions quarterback Jared Goff didn’t target Gardner at all.
Gardner has played with great patience and physicality at the line of scrimmage, and at the top of routes to stay in-phase throughout the entire route tree. He has even better ball skills in the NFL than I expected him to have at this age and leads the league in passes defended (16). He’s played like an All-Pro, essentially from the moment he put on a Jets jersey, and he’s on a trajectory that eventually could land him as the best cornerback in the NFL — possibly, while he’s still on his rookie contract.
“Lost in the sauce.”
Jets star Sauce Gardner with a pass breakup to prevent the Broncos from scoring a touchdown.
🎥 @nyjets pic.twitter.com/eEbV8v4Tlo
— The Athletic NFL (@TheAthleticNFL) October 23, 2022
I believed Stingley to be the more polished and versatile prospect headed into the draft (and I stand by my stance), but there’s something to be said for how Gardner has stepped into the league with a clearly overwhelming strength and leaned into it within the structure of the Jets’ defense.
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Stingley, meanwhile, has missed the last month of football while nursing a pulled hamstring, but there’s enough tape from his first nine games to draw some early conclusions about his play. Lovie Smith and the Texans defensive staff have designed something unique in the secondary around Stingley (and rookie safety Jalen Pitre, for that matter).
Houston does its best to play matchup football: Stingley travels with the offense’s most dangerous perimeter threat, wherever they may align. Usually, you’d see an outside corner do that to play tight press coverage, even if they have help over the top. Houston, however, plays a majority of the game with off coverage and in softer zone shells. I’m still not sure it’s the best way to use Stingley, who was excellent in press coverage at LSU, but it’s been interesting to watch him play in a way that’s divorced from his standout traits.
STUNG 'EM 🐝 @stingjr
📺 » @NFLonCBS pic.twitter.com/qxut1fxPbX
— Houston Texans (@HoustonTexans) October 9, 2022
In his nine appearances, Stingley exhibited smoothness in his hip transitions and, most importantly, showed a feel and understanding of a) the coverage scheme he was asked to execute and b) the route combinations he expected to see. He doesn’t get as many opportunities to play the ball as I would like in these zone looks, often on account of offenses attacking Houston’s linebackers and other interior defenders in the passing game, but he still had five pass breakups and an interception over his first two months.
Who knows how long the tenure will be for Smith’s regime in Houston, which has tied as many games as it’s won thus far (1-12-1). But if the next staff wants to run something more zone-heavy, Stingley should be prepared. I’d say Stingley is comfortably behind Gardner so far — and I may be willing to hear arguments for Tariq Woolen’s breakout campaign — but I still see Stingley as a true franchise-level cornerback with enough versatility to fit into any scheme.
How do those evaluations spin forward into the 2023 draft class? For one, I’ve learned that I need to expand my imagination for what kinds of players can reach “franchise corner” status, even among those prospects that look like potential high-level starters.
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Football is an evolutionary sport, by nature, and for all the time spent on how schemes are adjusting to better handle offenses (and how body types have changed up front), there hasn’t been enough analysis of what that means for the athletes on the perimeter. We’re conditioned to accept that the apex of the cornerback position are guys that can line up in press and win in tight coverage. That won’t change (nor should it), which is why Gardner has emerged as the clear front-runner from last year’s draft class.
Watching Stingley, though, is a reminder that some defenses, rather than working to eliminate particular receivers, look to succeed by playing off pre-snap and sitting in zone-coverage shells. They want to blanket the field, even if it may not maximize every bit of their prospects’ strengths.
GO DEEPER
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Going forward, I want to keep different archetypes in mind for the modern defender, starting with the upcoming draft class.
Right now, here’s how I’d profile the top 2023 corners:
Kelee Ringo, Georgia: Bump-and-run corner
Coming from Georgia’s defense, which has as full a coverage menu as any program in college football, Ringo’s best tape has come when he’s leaned into his size and physicality to erase matchup problems. Usually, when you think of the elite SEC corner over time, you think of Lito Sheppard or Tre’Davious White or Champ Bailey — rail-thin guys with elite speed/change of direction. Ringo is more in the mold of Patrick Peterson, a strong safety-sized defender who can park receivers at the line of scrimmage but with the long speed to run step for step against the sprinter types.
If players with his athletic profile don’t work out, it’s often because they have poor hip and ankle mobility, making it difficult to handle an NFL-level route tree. Ringo, though, is smooth and confident in coverage across a 360-degree plane. We also know he has the ball skills and playmaking ability to force turnovers, and that adds potential versatility for Ringo to play off the ball or handle zone coverage at the next level.
Textbook pick for Kelee Ringo. pic.twitter.com/4Pcb9aaShB
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) November 19, 2022
I fully expect him to be an impact player from the beginning of his NFL career and would not be shocked if he had a Gardner-level effect on the team that drafts him.
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If there’s a player who can serve as the Stingley to Ringo’s Gardner, it’s Gonzalez, maybe the most fluid mover in the defensive backfield in this entire class. At the line of scrimmage, Gonzalez’s patience keeps him on top of routes, and he’s excellent at forcing contested-catch situations by staying in phase and bodying up receivers. When in zone coverage, he plays the ball in the air with great judgment, has good hands and is a threat to score when he forces turnovers.
In addition to Gonzalez’s movement ability, coach Dan Lanning and the Oregon defensive staff took full advantage of his versatility, aligning him in the slot and outside, even using him to mirror the alignment of opponents’ most threatening receivers.
#Pac12FB Defensive Player of the Week, presented by Nextiva: Christian Gonzalez 🦆
Full release ➡️ https://t.co/F3xPzC1Llj#GoDucks | @oregonfootball pic.twitter.com/M6stwUTGCh
— Pac-12 Conference (@pac12) November 7, 2022
I pointed it out earlier in the season, but I still raise an eyebrow at Oregon rotating Gonzalez out of the game when it was in base personnel, even though Gonzalez is not a slot-only defender. It happened consistently enough over multiple games (and against opponents Oregon had an obvious edge on) that I have to wonder if Gonzalez is physical enough to stop the run when an offense targets him by formation and scheme.
There is no avoiding being involved against the run at the next level. If that fluctuating playing time truly is a matter of Gonzalez needing to be better about striking blockers and finishing plays with tackles, he will have to emphasize that part of his game immediately. If we’re only focusing on coverage, however, Gonzalez could turn out to be a do-everything type in the pros.
Porter Jr., doesn’t lack in physicality — no surprise given the reputation of his father (four-time Pro Bowl linebacker Joey Porter) — but I think his feel and burst is better suited for a style of play that gives him more vision across the field. The Penn State cornerback is comfortable in quarters, Cover 2, three-deep and man. His program runs an NFL-esque defensive scheme, which has made for a clean evaluation of his projection to the next level.
Come for @coachjfranklin spotlighting his star CB's play.
Stay for the Joey Porter Jr. Week 1 highlight reel. 👀@jjporter_1 x @PennStateFball pic.twitter.com/CUAJI1TpC1
— Penn State On BTN (@PennStateOnBTN) September 7, 2022
The younger Porter is patient when playing from depth and trusts his eyes and help in coverage. He breaks on the ball with great anticipation to force breakups, turnovers and tackles for no additional yardage. If he reaches the best version of himself at the NFL level, it will be because he’s taking away passing lanes late as a zone defender.
If he’s dropped into a more press-aligned or man-heavy defense, Porter has the necessary size to stand eye-to-eye with the biggest matchup problems in the league. Our Dane Brugler pointed out Porter’s grabbiness as an area that needs improvement, but I think Porter has the growth potential to make his physicality a strength. The lunging and holding is just about the only weakness he has at the line of scrimmage, though, and I typically diagnose that more as a footwork issue than anything else. If he fixes that, there’s real stud potential.
(Photo of Sauce Gardner: Gregory Fisher / USA Today)
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