Is Webb the best corner in the league?

[arnie_uk]

Webb has been a godsend. who would have thought a third round pick from a small school would turn out so good, so soon. This is his fourth year in the league and has been fantastic last year and this, leading some to place him in the upper echelon of elite corner backs. One of the biggest reasons for this would be the fact he hasn't let in a touchdown in 24 games, yes 24 games going back to cinci week 17 of 2009.

So i have compiled a lot of stats using Pro Football Focus' premium stats for Webb and the two other cornerbacks over the last few years that have apparently set the standard.

Plays. Pass plays. Targets. Completion percentage. Yards. Average. Td. Int. pd. QB rate

Webb

2368, 1430, 239, 54.18%, 1492, 9.73, 3, 10, 23, 61.98 rating

Revis

3379, 1879, 287, 39.5%, 1433, 11.18, 6, 13, 54, 39.6 rating

Nmandi

2856, 1567, 112, 54.75%, 858, 13.98, 6, 4, 13, 88.08 rating

Notes

Webb has been greatly improved since the 2011 season, allowing 0 tds in all 2011 and none so far, with a qbr of 42 in 11 and 46.3 so far this year, notching 8 ints last year to boot.

Revis has an anomaly this year a bit, with a qbr of only 6.3. If you ignored this year his QB for 09 to 11 would be 50.7, due to a fantastic 09 year with an qbr of 29.1, 8 ints and 2 tds. But since has declined, with a qbr of 77.4 and 45.6 for 10 and 11 respectively.

Nmandi has been targeted the least, by a long way, but when he gets beat more often and for a lot more yards than the other too. 4 more yards a completion than Webb to be in fact. He like Regis has allowed more td than Webb.

Webb lets in a td every 0.0125 targets, while Revis is 0.0209 and nmandi 0.05. Webb gets an int every 0.0418 targets, revis 0.0453 and nmandi 0.05.

So Webb lets in tds the least, whole nmandi is by the most, but he gets ints more often, with Webb second.

I have no stats for this, but I think It's safe to assume Webb is also the best inrun support, best blitzer and tackler.

Conclusion is, Webb has really emerged, and even taken over from these two as the best cb in the game since last year. Granted its only 1 and 1/4 years that he's really shone, but even over his short career thus far, he averages out just behind revis but better than nmandi and revis hasn't been the stalwart he once was. I think there is a changing in the guard.

[BigPlayReceiver]

Something worth noting with Webb...he's a top-tier CB despite having only *one* full off-season to perfect his craft:

2009 - converting from FS to CB
2010 - knee rehab
2011 - lock out
2012 - finally!


It's truly incredible.



From my G3

[LukeDaniel]

He's in the top 5. I guess it really depends on what qualifiers you use to determine "best". He's probably the most complete corner in the NFL, but certainly not the best cover corner in the NFL.

[arnie_uk]

He's in the top 5. I guess it really depends on what qualifiers you use to determine "best". He's probably the most complete corner in the NFL, but certainly not the best cover corner in the NFL.

I definitely agree with most complete corner. An argument can be made for one of the best cover corners as well. But he has stiff competition in that regard

[JAB1985]

He's in the top 5. I guess it really depends on what qualifiers you use to determine "best". He's probably the most complete corner in the NFL, but certainly not the best cover corner in the NFL.

Hes really good without a doubt. Im not sure id call him the most complete. I do however think hes the best slot cb in the league, which is why we primarily use him there. Williams and smith are still usually covering the teams top and second best wrs, so while i do think webb is really good, one could easily argue its against lesser talent for the most part than those other two hes being compared to. Not many teams best wr is a slot wr, NE STL and MIN come to mind. on average id say he covering a less talented player, not that he doesnt sometimes cover 1s and 2s also, just that in a passing league more teams run 3 wr sets and hes always the slot cb in those situations.

[Sirdowski]

Revis bar none is the most complete corner. No one's even close IMO. I'm sure he'd even be exceptional blitzing, but with his shutdown abilities he's better off in coverage.

That said, I don't think there's a clear second or even third best. I'd say Finnegan is the closest with Joseph, then Talib, Grimes, and Webb, with Webb being the obvious stud at nickel.