Jason Verrett Has Become the Forgotten Star of the 2014 NFL Draft
Forgetting about Jason Verrett is easy.
At least, it's easy if you even knew who he was in the first place.
Verrett's NFL career hasn't really got going yet. He was the 25th overall pick of the San Diego Chargers in last year's draft. He came out of the draft with shoulder concerns, concerns that ultimately turned into problems during the season.
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That shoulder injury pushed Verrett to the side during his rookie season. He managed just 230 snaps, per Pro Football Focus, that largely went unnoticed on the national level. While Verrett sat silently on the sideline, players such as Odell Beckham Jr, Mike Evans, Aaron Donald, C.J. Mosley, Zack Martin and Teddy Bridgewater shared the majority of the spotlight.
Each of those players, except Bridgewater, was selected ahead of Verrett during the draft, but it's tough to argue that his skill set isn't at least close to theirs.
Whenever you are picked 25th overall in any draft, you are most likely a very talented prospect. Twenty-fifth overall is very high, but Verrett could feel like he fell further than he should have. That shoulder injury undoubtedly scared teams off, but it's likely that his height did also.
The emergence of Richard Sherman as the league's best cornerback has put a greater focus on height at the position. Verrett measured in at just 5'9", so it's likely that many saw him as solely a slot cornerback.
Focusing on a player's height is very dangerous in football. How tall you are can be important, but it's only significant when considered with the rest of the player's skill set. Verrett may not be able to reach as high as other players when standing still and upright. But cornerbacks don't play the game standing still and upright, so that alone doesn't tell us much.
A shorter cornerback who understands how to play aggressive coverage with the ability to locate the ball and attack it athletically can be much, much more effective against bigger receivers than a cornerback who measures one or two inches more.
Fortunately for Verrett, he landed with a defensive coordinator who clearly doesn't just view him as a slot cornerback.
In addition to spending a first-round pick on Verrett, the Chargers also have a full-time starting cornerback in Brandon Flowers who measures just 5'9". San Diego added Flowers in free agency in 2014 before re-signing him to a long-term deal this offseason.
If defensive coordinator John Pagano is willing to play Flowers outside, he should also be willing to play Verrett outside. That is what he did during the rookie's short time on the field last season.
According to Pro Football Focus, Verrett lined up as a slot cornerback on just eight of his 230 snaps last season. Pro Football Focus also tracked how often Verrett was targeted. He saw no targets on his plays in the slot but was targeted 21 times on his 145 snaps outside.
Pro Football Focus judges cornerbacks based on what happens when they are targeted, but to get a truer measure of defensive back quality you need to look at every snap the defensive back plays.
To do that, I went back through all of Verrett's snaps from his rookie season and measured his success in coverage. Not every snap qualifies in these numbers—you can find a breakdown of what makes a snap qualify here—but this is done to get a fair assessment of the individual rather than just for convenience.
| ARI, Wk 1 | 14 | 13 | 1 | 93% |
| SEA, Wk 2 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 86% |
| BUF, Wk 3 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 75% |
| NYJ, Wk 5 | 13 | 10 | 3 | 77% |
| OAK, Wk 6 | 13 | 10 | 3 | 77% |
| DEN, Wk 8 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 60% |
| Total | 60 | 48 | 12 | 80% |
Although the small sample size must be taken into account, Verrett's raw numbers in coverage for the 2014 season were phenomenal. For context, an 80 percent success rate is right around where Darrelle Revis and Richard Sherman ranked when their best seasons were analyzed.
To further examine Verrett's versatility and effectiveness, his numbers can also be broken down by alignment.
| LCB | 30 | 25 | 5 | 83% |
| RCB | 25 | 18 | 7 | 72% |
| Slot | 5 | 5 | 0 | 100% |
| Press | 31 | 26 | 5 | 83% |
| Off | 29 | 22 | 7 | 76% |
It's no surprise that Verrett's numbers are impressive when he lines up in the slot. His quick feet and controlled aggression set him up to work laterally with relative ease. That's crucially important for managing the two-way go that receivers get from the slot.
In truth, Verrett's numbers inside aren't great enough to truly mean anything. Five snaps are too volatile a number to truly garner anything from his play.
The more notable numbers from the above chart are the press versus off numbers. Press coverage was considered any play where Verrett lined up within five yards of the receiver he was covering. Despite his size, Verrett is actually very effective in press coverage because of his strength and quick feet.
He excels at mirroring receivers' releases from the line of scrimmage.
In Week 1 against the Arizona Cardinals, we were getting our first look at Verrett and Cardinals wide receiver John Brown. Brown stayed healthy for the rest of the season and proved to be one of the most explosive and agile players in the league.
Therefore, when we retroactively look back at this matchup, we get greater context for the cornerback's play.
In one-on-one matchups, Verrett dominated Brown. Brown was only able to escape him once on six snaps. This play at the goal line was the most telling play from their matchup, as Brown shows off excellent quickness and decisiveness in his cutting movements to release off the line of scrimmage.
Brown initially makes a quick, aggressive plant to the outside with his left foot. Verrett reacts to this movement but keeps his shoulders and hips centered on the receiver.
To try to shift Verrett off balance, Brown extends his right foot away from his body to make a much more elaborate plant past the cornerback's inside shoulder. Verrett responds to this by twisting his right foot, the foot that is holding his weight, while dropping his left foot backward to maintain his balance.
Verrett is focused on Brown's upper body, keeping his hips and shoulders square and in line at all times.
Brown sells the inside slant as well as he possibly can by keeping his head faced toward the posts while he shifts all of his weight onto his extended right foot. For a split second, Verrett appears set to buy this fake as he responds by aggressively extending his left foot away from his body to the inside.
As Brown's momentum slows slightly, Verrett's reactions are almost instantaneous. Before his left foot has come close to touching the ground, he adjusts it so he can center his weight instead of being dragged infield.
Despite all of Brown's movement, the receiver and cornerback have essentially reset to where they were before the snap. Verrett is perfectly in line with the receiver, with his momentum centered and his feet in position to push off in either direction.
Verrett watches as Brown brings his head back toward the near sideline so he can work toward the back pylon. Verrett leaves his weight on his left foot while pulling his right foot off the ground and backward so he can open his hips to run with the receiver.
This is perfect coverage, and you can see the move in full motion here.
After handling Brown's dangerous release, Verrett smartly uses his hand to jolt Brown's chest as he accelerates alongside him. From there, Verrett is in a perfect position to play the fade route that Brown runs. The ball is ultimately thrown wildly out of bounds, but Verrett's coverage was still exceptional.
Footwork for a cornerback is crucial for his success. Obviously he needs to be able to move well in space, so having quick feet and fluid hips allow the player to be proactive in how he adjusts to the movements of the receiver when in tight coverage.
One of the toughest tests for any cornerback is covering a well-run double-move route in space.
Despite not being on the field throughout the whole season, Verrett faced a significant number of double-move routes. He faced six qualifying snaps when the receiver he was covering ran one. A receiver beat him just once, which is an incredible success rate, but just as notable is how impressive his coverage was on specific plays.
On three of the six plays, Verrett covered the receiver so well that he earned a shutdown label. A shutdown label is attached to a play when the cornerback runs the route for the receiver to the point that any accurate throw would likely result in an interception.
While none of those plays resulted in an interception, Verrett's sole turnover of the season came on a vertical throw when he impressively stayed on top of the route.
Because of the situation against the Oakland Raiders late in the fourth quarter, Verrett began the play in off-coverage. It was a three-point game, so the Chargers weren't concerned about underneath plays. Theoretically, this should mean it's easy for Verrett to stay on top of the route, but that's not how the play developed.
Raiders cornerback Derek Carr threw a jump ball to 6'3" Brice Butler. He seemingly targeted this matchup specifically because of Butler's size advantage against Verrett.
Where Carr put the ball should have given Butler a chance to make a play on it, but Verrett's aggressive coverage meant that he had better positioning to make a play. While the ball was in the air, Verrett and Butler were tangled together.
Verrett wasn't interfering with the receiver illegally. Instead he was simply holding his established position, a position he has a right to, while using his hands to fend off the receiver.
Just a few yards before the arrival of the ball, Verrett made a very subtle but very important movement. He used his extended arm to slightly push off on Butler's shoulder. This movement was so quick and slight that Butler couldn't even consider selling it for a potential pass-interference penalty.
Although this was a slight movement, its impact allowed Verrett to attack the ball with Butler.
Verrett's ball skills are consistently outstanding. He proved that in college, and based on the early evidence, that part of his game will translate to the NFL over the long term. The Chargers didn't simply hide him from the bigger receivers when he played last year.
If you can hold your ground against Larry Fitzgerald, chances are your size concerns are overblown.
Emmanuel Sanders of the Denver Broncos exposed Verrett's height to a degree. The Bronco was able to put Verrett in a position where he needed to win at the catch point, and the ball slipped just past his outstretched hand.
An obvious argument against small cornerbacks, right?
Not necessarily.
Sanders ran a post route, and as he so often does, he showed off the kind of speed and route-running ability that has made him almost uncoverable since joining the Broncos. Verrett's ability to stick with him through the route was very impressive.
A perfectly placed pass from Peyton Manning and impressive ball tracking from Sanders meant that Verrett never had a chance of touching the ball.
Yet it's not so simple that a taller cornerback could have made the play. There are maybe five or six defensive backs in the NFL who can cover Sanders' route as well as Verrett did. Most bigger cornerbacks wouldn't have ever been in position to even affect Sanders at the catch point.
They'd likely be running four or five yards behind the receiver as he ran underneath the ball and continued in stride downfield for a long touchdown.
Verrett will get beaten because of his height in the NFL. Every cornerback gets beaten on a more regular basis than he'd like to admit. The majority of cornerbacks also have specific weaknesses that cause them to get beaten.
It's easy to pick on Verrett's size because it's something everyone can see. Just because it's easier to see, it doesn't make it a bigger issue than a cornerback who is too stiff in the hips to move laterally with receivers or too hesitant mentally to be trusted in zone coverage. Verrett is an outstanding zone cornerback, by the way.
Arguing that Verrett will be remembered as the best prospect from the 2014 class is a point that is very tough to make. That says more about the quality of the class than it does Verrett, though.
Odell Beckham Jr might be the best receiver in the NFL for the next decade. Aaron Donald may be the best defensive tackle in the NFL for the next decade. Greg Robinson, Zack Martin and C.J. Mosley will be collecting All-Pro selections like stamps, while Teddy Bridgewater appears to be a high-quality franchise quarterback.
Along with Kyle Fuller and maybe Bashaud Breeland from the 2014 class, Verrett could prove to be a star-caliber cornerback.
He definitely has the talent to be that kind of player, and the Chargers are going to give him every opportunity to develop on the field. The only significant concern is his health. Hopefully, his repaired labrum and rotator cuff will stand up to the punishment that comes with being a professional footballer.
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