Who do you think are the best cornerbacks on the Broncos rosters the past two years? How does one judge? I judged among eight Bronco cornerbacks. Champ Bailey, Chris Harris Jr., Dominique Rodgers Cromartie, Quentin Jammner, Kavyon Webster, Aqib Talib, Tony Carter and Marquice Cole.
Next I reviewed who was number one (FIRST IN THEIR CATEGORY) through number eight (Last in their category) at cornerback among the Broncos players during 2013. Several players were on other NFL teams. Who was first and to who was last. I selected six categories: Tackles (Solo + Assisted Tackles), Passes Defended, Interceptions, Forced Fumbles, Fumbles Recovered and Quarterback Sacks. Any Special Team action was not considered. Since there were 8 players the player with the highest total in each category received eight pouts. The second highest received a seven points. If a player did not record any stats for a category like QB Sacks they received a zero. The figures were calculated by using the stat total for each of the six categories then dividing each categories stat total by the number of years each player was in the NFL This is how I arrived at an average number. For example: Champ Bailey’s stats for each category were each divided by 16 because Champ was in the league 16 years. Kayvon Webster was a rookie so we used his actual numbers.
The reason for using ONLY Bronco Cornerbacks was to determine the value of past, and present Cornerbacks. Why? I wanted have some idea of the value to our team of Dominique Rodgers Cromartie who was signed away, from that of Champ Bailey, Quentin Jammer, and Marquice Colewith who were not resigned from that of 7 year cornerback Qalib Talib who was joining Cornerbacks Chris Harris Jr., Kavyon Webster and Tony Carter. I was curious! Did the Broncos improve the cornerback position or was all this shuffling hot air? I wanted to know if the mock drafts which indicate the Broncos would use a draft pick for a cornerback were justified.
Blew are the stat totals for each cornerbacks career in the NFL.
Champ Bailey who was considered one of the elite cornerbacks for many years graded out the highest. All the results follow the stats below.
Chris Haris Jr. 3rd yr
24 years old
5"10" 199 lbs.
Solo Tackles 171
Ast Tackles 27
Total Tackles 198
TDS - Touch Downs 2
PD - Pass defended - 32
INT - Interceptions 7
FF - Forced Fumbles - 0
FR - Fumble Recoveries 3
S - QB Sacks 2.5
Aqib Talib 7th yr.
28 years old
6"1" 205 lbs.
Solo Tackles 211
Ast Tackles 31
Total Tackles 242
TDS - Touch Downs 4
PD - Pass defended - 32
INT - Interceptions 7
FF - Forced Fumbles - 2
FR - Fumble Recoveries 2
S - QB Sacks 0
Dominique Rodgers Cromartie 7th
27 years old
6"2" 193 lbs.
Solo Tackles 222
Ast Tackles 24
Total Tackles 246
TDS - Touch Downs 5
PD - Pass defended - 98
INT - Interceptions 19
FF - Forced Fumbles - 3
FR - Fumble Recoveries 2
S - QB Sacks 1
Kavyon Webster 1st yr
23 years old
5"11" 198 lbs.
Solo Tackles 37
Ast Tackles 4
Total Tackles 41
TDS - Touch Downs 0
PD - Pass defended - 9
INT - Interceptions 1
FF - Forced Fumbles - 1
FR - Fumble Recoveries 0
S - QB Sacks 0
Champ Bailey 16th yr
6’ 192 lbs.
Solo Tackles 699
Ast Tackles 86
Total Tackles 785
TDS - Touch Downs 4
PD - Pass defended - 142
INT - Interceptions 52
FF - Forced Fumbles - 7
FR - Fumble Recoveries 6
S - QB Sacks 3
Quentin Jammer 13th yr
34 years old
6’ 204 lbs.
Solo Tackles 630
Ast Tackles 103
Total Tackles 733
TDS - Touch Downs 1
PD - Pass defended - 129
INT - Interceptions 21
FF - Forced Fumbles - 7
FR - Fumble Recoveries 2
S - QB Sacks 0
Tony Carter 5th yr
27 years old
5"9" 175 lbs.
Solo Tackles 39
Ast Tackles 5
Total Tackles 44
TDS - Touch Downs 1
PD - Pass defended - 19
INT - Interceptions 3
FR - Fumble Recoveries 1
S - QB Sacks 0
Marquice Cole 6th yr
30 years old
5"10" 195 lbs
Solo Tackles 57
Ast Tackles 15
Total Tackles 72
TDS - Touch Downs 1
PD - Pass defended - 10
INT - Interceptions 4
FR - Fumble Recoveries 0
S - QB Sacks 0
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
From these stats I calculated the numbers for each category and placed each player in order from first to last.
Total Tackles
Chris Harris - 66
Quentin Jammer - 56
Champ Bailey - 49
Kavyon Webster - 41
DRC - 35
Aqib Talib - 34
Marquice Cole - 12
Tony Carter - 9
Total Interceptions
Aqib Talib - 3.28
Champ Bailey - 3.25
DRC - 2.71
Chris Harris - 2.3
Quentin Jammer - 1.6
Kavyon Webster - 1
Marquice Cole - .66
Tony Carter - .6
Q.B. Sacks
Chris Harris - 0.833
Champ Bailey - 01875
DRC - 0.142
Quentin Jammer - 0
Kavyon Webster - 0
Aqib Talib - 0
Marquice Cole - 0
Tony Carter - 0
Total Forced Fumbles
Kavyon Webster - 1
Quinton Jammer - 0.538
Champ Bailey - 0.4375
DRC - 0.4285
Aqib Talib - 0.285
Tony Carter - 0.20
Chris Harris - 0
Marquice Cole - 0
Total Passes Defended
DRC - 14
Chris Harris - 10.66
Aqib Talib - 10
Quentin Jammer - 9.92
Kavyon Webster - 9
Champ Bailey - 8.875
Marquice Cole - 3.8
Tony Carter - 1.66
Total Fumbles Recovered
Kavyon Webster - 1
Chris Harris - 1
Champ Bailey - 0.375
Aqib Talib - 0.285
DRC - 0.285
Tony Carter - 0.20
Quentin Jammer - 0.153
Marquice Cole - 0
Stats Grade Out
39 Points ( A+ ) Champ Bailey -
36 Points ( A ) DRC
35 Points ( A ) Chris Harris Jr.
30 Points ( B+ ) Quentin Jammer
26 Points ( B ) Kavyon Webster
22 Points ( C+ ) Aqib Talib
10 Points ( D ) Tony Carter
06 Points ( D-) Marquice Cole
Now in calculating these points I realize a number of additional factors must be considered. I do not know all the factors and therefore cannot consider all the factors. We know that Champ and Quentin are not at the height of their games any more. So was their loss great? No! However from a statical position both played much better than Tony Carter. Yet both slowed a step or two.
So from a statical position the Broncos lost their best two players and their fourth best player. Then they signed Aqib Talib who rates considerably lower. This was the greatest surprise for me. I went back to double check his stats to make sure they were correct.
Aqib Talib Stats Scored in comparison to what we had / have:
6th in Total Tackles ( 34.57 per year)
1st in Total Interceptions ( 3.28 per year)
3rd in Passes Defended
4th in Fumbles Recovered.
5th in Forced Fumbles.
Tied for last in Quarterback sacks...
I feel like the Post writers tried to sell us some swamp land when writing about how great Aqib is. The point is we replaced a 1st, 2nd and 4th player on our team with a player who rates 6th!! THAT IS NOT IMPROVEMENT!! Take a lock at Aqib's stats.
Yet the chips will fall as they may. Based on this information I think the Broncos will select a cornerback. I think it is VERY POSSIBLE than the starters this year at cornerback will be Chris Harris Jr and Kavyon Webster especially if Kavyon comes on like many 2nd year players do. Aqib Talib will back up Harris and Webster. Perhaps Tony Carter will be cut at the end of training camp providing the drafted cornerback plays better.
What do you think? Did the Broncos improve the cornerback position? How would you grade our situation?