Who Has the Best Shot to Be the Next Darrelle Revis?

There was a time when the phrase "shutdown corner" was thought to be a thing of the past, then the Jets drafted Darrelle Revis.

Since that time, Revis has become the NFL’s best cornerback, and such a dominant player in an era where all the rules are tilted in favor of the offense, that he allows the Jets all kinds of creativity on defense that isn’t an option for other teams. Revis allows them to change the way they play.

Not only can the Jets just leave him out on an island for the entire game and focus elsewhere while he shuts down his receiver, but he is equally at home on either side of the defense, and in the slot, something few corners can claim, and this allows the Jets to use him to track an opponent’s best receiver.

When Nnamdi Asomugha played in Oakland, he would play almost entirely at right cornerback. If a team wanted to avoid him, they could, just by throwing to the other side of the field and lining up their best receiver on that side. Teams stopped throwing at Asomugha because they could, but the Jets and Revis don’t give teams that option.

With Revis tracking a team’s best receiver, they can still stop throwing in his direction, but it means giving up on your best receiver in the process, and that’s a bargain few teams are willing to settle for.

That’s why, despite Revis being comfortably the most dangerous coverage to throw into as a corner, teams still target him, and he still shuts them down.

Despite being the best corner in his draft class, Revis lasted until the 14th selection of the 2007 NFL Draft when the Jets traded up to get him. There is little doubt that if teams knew then what they know now, Revis would have been a top five—probably a top three selection—and he is arguably the best player to come from that draft.

At 26 years old, Revis is in the prime of his career, and likely to be a force in the NFL for years to come. But can anybody join him in the shutdown corner ranks, or is he a unique talent capable of bucking the trend towards offense and more offense?

Johnathan Joseph and Brent Grimes are two players that both put together impressive seasons in 2011, but both players are 28 years old already. While they may continue to improve, they likely won’t reach the heights of Revis before their play starts to decline, unless one of them can find an Indian summer to his career like Charles Woodson did in Green Bay.

For potential Revis emulators, I’m going to look at some of the younger corners that have already displayed some signs that they could join the ranks. 

Joe Haden

Haden is the youngest of the three players with the best chance of joining Revis as a shutdown corner.

At just 23 years old, Haden already has two seasons under his belt, and in his second season, he looked like he could go toe to toe with most receivers and come out on the winning side. He recorded six interceptions as a rookie, and though he didn’t pick off any in 2011, he did actually break up more passes—19 to the 18 he did in the previous season.

Haden is the closest player to Revis in terms of being able to shadow a receiver and still break on the ball to deflect the pass away. He was knocked as a prospect when he ran 4.57 at the NFL Combine, and people questioned his deep speed, but his football speed has never looked in question as a pro.

Deep speed is certainly important for corners, but his abilities to move quickly in tight spaces, change direction in an instant and read receivers and quarterbacks are far more important traits to have, and Haden seems to have them in spades.

As a rookie, Haden showed he had playmaking skills; he became the first Browns player to intercept a pass in four consecutive games since 1968, and in his second season he took steps toward being a legitimate shutdown corner (via Cleveland.com). Haden manned the left cornerback spot for the Browns, but he also spent time covering in the slot and on the right side.

If Haden can take another step forward in his third season, he could force his way into the elite ranks at cornerback, and become a legitimate weapon for a Browns defense crying out for one. 

Lardarius Webb

The Ravens got a huge boost from the play of Webb last season as he continued his comeback from injury. At 26 years old, Webb is the oldest of the three players I’m focusing on, but he also had his career arc interrupted by an injury, and his performance in 2011 firmly suggests he should be in the conversation.

He was a third-round pick in the 2009 NFL Draft, and after flashing talent for the Ravens as a return man and a backup, he tore his ACL late in the season, derailing his bright start. He rehabbed in time to play as the nickel corner for the Ravens in 2010, but ACL injuries for defensive backs are significant and tend to result in at least a season of below average play even once they are given a clean bill of health.

Webb played OK that season, but he didn’t look like the same player he did as a rookie and it took until 2011 for us to really see what he had to offer.

Last season Webb played fantastically, displaying the kind of quickness and closing speed that led to him picking off five passes during the regular season and another three in the playoffs. Webb is versatile enough to play in the slot or out wide for the Ravens, and he has the kind of anticipation and ball skills that makes him a real factor with the ball in the air.

In this area he might actually surpass Revis, and with a fully healthy offseason he could be in line for a special season in 2012. Last season he didn’t allow a single touchdown catch in all of his time in coverage, while scoring one himself, and breaking up 33 passes in all games.

Webb may be 26, but last season was the first legitimate year we were able to see from him, and it promised special things.

2012 could see him join Revis at the top. 

Brandon Flowers

Flowers is unlike the other two players I’ve already mentioned because his 2011 was actually a step back from his previous standard.

Flowers was the fifth cornerback taken in 2008, but draft guru Mike Mayock had him rated as his No. 1 corner for most of the evaluation process. Judging by the rest of the players taken ahead of him, he looks to have been proven right.

As a rookie, Flowers was thrown straight to the lions as a starter for the Chiefs and struggled, but he took major steps forward in his second season. That year he looked far more comfortable in coverage, and more assured of his own ability to mix it up with receivers at the NFL level and come out on top.

He slipped in the draft because of his poor 40 time, but he has learned to be physical and play with technique well enough that he doesn’t often get beaten deep.

2010 saw another step forward as Flowers again cut down on the negative plays and continued to get his hands to passes thrown into his coverage—even if he wasn’t able to intercept more than two of them.

Flowers might be the best of the three young corners against the run—something often overlooked about Revis. This was one of his biggest strengths coming out of college, and something he has continued to excel at in the NFL. He got off to a rocky start last season, giving up five touchdowns in the first two weeks alone—two of them to Calvin Johnson in the only two catches he allowed Megatron in Week 2.

Flowers eventually got his season back on track after a funky start, and actually ended the year playing some very good football. Before his poor start to 2011, I would have said he was well on his way to becoming one of the league’s top corners, but that rocky patch gave me pause for thought. Still, he has shown the talent and consistency to be able to shut down opposing receivers, and if he can eliminate the slow start to his 2012 season, he can quietly become a shutdown corner too.

The last player young enough to be worth mentioning, but with less of a body of work to analyze than the previous three players, is Seattle’s Richard Sherman.

When he became a starter for the Seahawks, he showed some amazing play.

He is a rare blend of size (6’3") and speed, and showed the kind of physical play and ability to run with receivers that could make him special. His starting career is only 10 games long, so it’s a little early to jump to conclusions, but I love what I have seen so far.

If he takes the kind of step forward that the others did heading into their second seasons, then we could have another contender. 

Darrelle Revis is the best corner in football, the best corner since Deion Sanders and may be one of the greatest of all time when all is said and done, so casting around for players that have the ability to join him on that pedestal is not easy. The players we’ve looked at have the youth and the ability to make that leap, but each of them will need to raise their game to another level to be on the same level as the game’s one true shutdown corner.

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