All Flights Grounded: The Most Feared Defensive Backs in the NFL

One of the toughest positions in the NFL is defensive back. Your failures are magnified and, barring the infrequent big play or big hit, your successes are forgotten.

The NFL is a star-driven league and those roles are usually preserved for the guys moving the ball down the field.

But if you're a wide receiver or a tight end in the NFL and you find yourself lining up across from one of these guys, you're in for a long day.

Receivers and tight ends are physical freaks. Monsters with nearly seven foot wingspans, incredible vertical leaps, and 40 times that would make a Ferrari blush. Defensive backs, not so much.

Usually small, sprite guys who rely more on fluid hips, great instincts, and the desire to put make the big play when called upon, corners have their work cut out for them.

Safeties pack a little more wallop, and they're included here, but make no mistake that when you're talking about stopping the most physically gifted guys in the league, it's the defensive backs who turn solid gains into game-changing plays.

These are the five who are the best at it, right now.

There are a few notable exclusions and there are a host of guys who are certainly close to entering this group, but these five, to my eyes, stand apart.

(Note: Just so we're clear, these are the five best defensive backs for 2009. Some guys have had bad years or have been injured and, subsequently, aren't on the list. Don't yell at me because your favorite player is the best safety on injured reserve.)

Darren Sharper, S, New Orleans Saints

Darren Sharper makes plays.

That's the only way to put it, really. The guy doesn't necessarily have remarkable physical attributes or instincts but when he gets his hands on a ball not meant for him—which is pretty damn often this season—you better believe he's going to turn it into six points.

He already has 11 career touchdowns, three this season with well over 355 return yards on his eight interceptions.

At 34 years old, he's not a spring chicken but he may be having his best season yet. Similar to Brian Dawkins in Denver, Sharper is the spirit behind a defense that has finally stepped up its game to stoke New Orleans to its current undefeated streak.

Between Sharper and Jabari Greer, New Orleans has been able to add a few hurdles for their opponents and turn what were once track meets into blowout victories for the Saints.

The four-time Pro Bowler with a first-team All Pro selection under his belt may, in the near future, have a case to be a Hall of Famer (rare for a defensive back).

But for now, I think he'll settle for kicking off this list as one of the first guys you don't want to have to throw anywhere near.

Charles Woodson, CB, Green Bay Packers

Like others in this list, Charles Woodson came into the league and made an immediate impact, pulling down five interceptions in his rookie season.

Beginning his career with four straight trips to the Pro Bowl from 1998 through 2001, Woodson looked like he was a lock to be the next great corner in NFL history.

Injuries and the almost immediate decline of the Oakland Raiders at the beginning of the decade put his career into a tailspin, but Woodson has regained much of his former ability, as he's playing as well as nearly any corner in the league right now.

He's made eight interceptions this year, besting his total of seven in 2008. Those 15 picks in just 29 games mark the best two-year stretch of the 33-year-old's career.

In coverage he's also been exceptional. According to ProFootballFocus.com, while Woodson's been thrown at 57 times (quite a bit for a guy with his reputation and ball-hawking skills), opposing quarterbacks have just a 57.3 rating when they throw in his direction.

In addition, PFF rates defensive players on this contributions in both the run and pass game. When teams run while Woodson is on the field, he's still among the most efficient at the position.

That ability in both run and pass coverage has caused the site to give him the highest overall rating of any at the position.

Between him and Sharper, not bad for the 30-and-up crowd.

Nnamdi Asomugha, CB, Oakland Raiders

Nnamdi Asomugha, despite lining up against the best receivers on the opposing team, may have the easiest job in the NFL.

He's been on the field for 797 defensive snaps this year and has the ball thrown his way a grand total of 26 times. Nobody playing at least 60 percent of their team's defensive snaps has been thrown at less.

His worst enemy isn't a double move but simply boredom at this point. There's a reason for that though: he's that good.

Not only does he possess incredible fluidity, amazing athleticism, and the coverage skills to match up with the best receivers in the league, he breaks the mold of the "soft corner" by being one of the best tacklers in the NFL.

Get this: as a corner he's been thrown at 26 times and he's made 28 tackles. That's how few times quarterbacks test him. He, as a corner, goes looking to make plays because teams don't dare go near him in most games.

He's also the only corner in the league who can boast such an odd statistic who has played such a high percentage of his team's defensive snaps.

It's a slam dunk choice that Nnamdi, like the Autumn wind, is a Raider.

Troy Polamalu, S, Pittsburgh Steelers

Including Troy was a tough decision based on his 2009 performance because, rather conspicuously, he's been injured for much of the year.

Yet so great is his impact that the Pittsburgh Steelers look like their champion selves with Polamalu in the lineup and like they're suffering from the all-too-familiar Super Bowl hangover without him.

Troy shouldn't risk his long-term health by trying to force it, but it's clear whenever he's on the field that he's an incredibly dynamic player that, quite literally, has done more to make defensive back a glamour position in his short time in the league than any player since Night Train Lane.

In 242 defensive snaps played this season, he has threeinterceptions, while the rest of his team has five combined.

While he was already lauded by the media and fans of the game before this season, in his absence I think a new appreciation has arisen for his particular set of skills and what they mean to a Steelers defense that has been phenomenal with him in it.

Darrelle Revis, CB, New York Jets

Months ago, before the first game of the season, I listed in an article the one-on-one matchups Darrelle Revis would have as the premier cover corner on a Jets team that would consistently leave him in single coverage because of their blitz-heavy scheme.

While he has gotten some solid safety help throughout the year, it is a testament to his ability that it's Revis, and not the premier receivers he has faced every single week, that have gotten the praise.

Let's look at the numbers for a moment. Revis has the reputation as one of the best corners in the league and yet, despite this, he's thrown at as much as any player who is on the field as much as he is.

Among CBs who have played at least 60% of their team's defensive snaps, Revis has held opposing QBs to a lower QB rating (34.8) and lower completion percentage (39%) than any of his colleagues.

He's done that while being thrown at 86 times. The reason he's being targeted so often is not because he's a poor player (obviously), but because he's matched up on opposing team's premier receivers.

Here, for posterity's sake, are the matchups Revis has had or will have for 2009 when all is said in done:

Andre Johnson, Randy Moss (twice), Terrell Owens (twice), Marques Colston, Mike Sims-Walker, Steve Smith, Roddy White, Reggie Wayne, Chad Ochocinco.

So far this season, Revis has faced every great receiver and, with no more than average safety help over the top, has excelled in staying with every one.

He hasn't been perfect, but he's been as close to sublime as a cover corner can get in this league at so young an age.