So everyone who comes to MHR is well aware of Champ having the worst game of his career the last time we saw him play. Hopefully at this point, you have recovered from that game and are willing to look at some facts/stats regarding our secondary. Here is the reality: Bailey and Harris are two of the best CBs in the league. How can I say that?
Here's how. What is job of a CB? To prevent catches, but more than that, to prevent first down and or touchdown catches. Thanks to the wonderful folks over at ProFootballFocus, we can now see who the best CBs in the league are at preventing first down and or touchdown catches. They even normalize the data for coverage snaps to make sure that it doesn't make a guy who has a whole bunch of coverage snaps look worse than a guy who has half that number of snaps. So first here are the ten worst
| Snaps | first or touch | % | |
| Josh Norman | 447 | 40 | 8.95% |
| Aqib Talib | 343 | 30 | 8.75% |
| Cassius Vaughn | 472 | 40 | 8.47% |
| Joselio Hanson | 332 | 27 | 8.13% |
| Nolan Carroll | 415 | 33 | 7.95% |
| Cortez Allen | 340 | 27 | 7.94% |
| Cary Williams | 578 | 45 | 7.79% |
| Dunta Robinson | 540 | 42 | 7.78% |
| Buster Skrine | 451 | 35 | 7.76% |
| Josh Robinson | 451 | 34 | 7.54% |
These guys gave up first downs or touchdowns on 1 of every 12 coverage snaps. Our old friend Cassius Vaughn is on this list and we should be glad he is not playing for the Broncos.
Here are the ten best
See who is at #6. I think this puts to bed the argument that Champ is no longer elite. The author, Khayed Elsayed, ranks the top 20 - at #17 is Chris Harris (5.07%). That means that the Broncos were one of six teams to have two CBs in the top 20. The others were GB (Sheilds #3, Hayward #5), CIN (Hall, #2, Jones #7), ATL (McClain #11, Samuel #20), SEA (Sherman #13, Browner #14) and NYJ (Cromartie #8, Wilson #19). The best guys in the league are only giving up a first down or a touchdown on 1 of every 25 coverage snaps.
Of the six teams with two guys in the top 20, GB, ATL and CIN have one of their starters and their nickel corner on here. Only DEN, NYJ (Wilson became the starter when Revis when down) and SEA have their two starting CBs in the top 20. Not surprisingly, the Jets, Seahawks and Broncos were in the top 10 in most pass defense stats.
The crux of the matter is that Champ is still elite and has at least one more year before we should contemplate moving him to safety. Given his track record and his performance in 16 of 17 games last season, I think he deserves the benefit of the doubt until he proves that he ISN'T playing at an elite level any more.
Go Broncos.
Poll
Should the Broncos make changes at CB and if so what?
no - even if we let Porter and Carter go, the CBs are solid (16 votes)
yes - bring in a cheap FA and draft some more mid-round talent (28 votes)
yes - do whatever it takes to bring in Revis (7 votes)
yes - move Champ to safety and draft a CB in the second round (3 votes)
yes - I'm a Ravens fan and they all need to be jettisoned (0 votes)
54 total votes
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