Stud WR's vs. Shutdown Corners

[Cameron Giles]

Across the league you have:

Xavier Rhodes
Patrick Peterson
Jalen Ramsey
A.J. Buoye
Marshon Lattimore
Richard Sherman
Josh Norman
Janoris Jenkins

I could be forgetting some.

Not all of these players are shadow corners, but it seems like this year has really been the season of lockdown CB's. Peterson is on pace to only allow 16 receptions to a WR this season. I know "click it and forget it" is usually the motto, but if your stud WR is facing one of those players, are you starting to look elsewhere?

[lukkynumber13]

Is cornerback play getting so much better, or are D-Coordinators scheming more brilliantly than before? Or do we just know the names of starting CBs moreso now than ever before?

I'm not asking out of snark, I'm legitimately curious because it's a fact that we all can name more defensive players now than we could 5-10 years ago - for the most part, at least.

[lukkynumber13]

Idk that there are more "shutdown" CBs than before.

3-5 years ago we had:

Sherman
Vontae Davis
Joe Haden
Talib
Revis

And to my point above, those are just the ones who were "household names" to the avid FF player. How many more were well above-average CBs but just weren't on the radar of Matthew Berry on a weekly basis?

[lukkynumber13]

Across the league you have:

Xavier Rhodes
Patrick Peterson
Jalen Ramsey
A.J. Buoye
Marshon Lattimore
Richard Sherman
Josh Norman
Janoris Jenkins

I could be forgetting some.

Not all of these players are shadow corners, but it seems like this year has really been the season of lockdown CB's. Peterson is on pace to only allow 16 receptions to a WR this season. I know "click it and forget it" is usually the motto, but if your stud WR is facing one of those players, are you starting to look elsewhere?

Might add Desmond Trufant to that list, and all of Denver's guys haha

[nathanq42]

Joe haden? Jason verrete (chargers, sp.). Talib

I think corners are getting better. Doesn't matter what the coordinator says or does, its still WR vs CB , and the game plan goes out the window when the ball is snapped. I'd still be playing my studs vs them, but thats just me. It feels worse when you bench them for a better match up and they pop off, vs the other way around.

No scheme can stop Julio from climbing the ladder and catch the ball over kuekly's head and run it in for a TD

[Cameron Giles]

Idk that there are more "shutdown" CBs than before.

3-5 years ago we had:

Sherman
Vontae Davis
Joe Haden
Talib
Revis

And to my point above, those are just the ones who were "household names" to the avid FF player. How many more were well above-average CBs but just weren't on the radar of Matthew Berry on a weekly basis?

I can't prove it, but it seems like there's more. Good call on Aqib Talib. Darius Slay of the Lions is another one. Casey Hayward is really good too.

[Pac_Eddy]

It's the ebb and flow of time. Talented RBs are coming back, TEs are down.

Overall I like to see good defenses, so I love this.

[AussieMate]

They seemed to drop off when the rules changed to favour the wrs, maybe this is the correction from that. CB's are coming in and learning to dominate in a different way then revis had too I guess. Im no expert in defense though, could be way off

[Slackalacker]

I think certain studs are just too good to get shut down, others are more easily shut down

People like AB/Evans/OBJ usually produce every week no matter who they face which is why they are top tier. Dez, DT, and other low end WR1s don't usually handle the challenging DBs very well.

I think it's fairly easy to tell based on previous years who can handle top CB shadows and who can't. But it's harder for the younger guys who have just become WR1s like MThom because you just don't know how they will handle the transition of going from CB2 to CB1. And on most teams there is a pretty big drop of talent between the two.

[Pac_Eddy]

I think certain studs are just too good to get shut down, others are more easily shut down

People like AB/Evans/OBJ usually produce every week no matter who they face which is why they are top tier. Dez, DT, and other low end WR1s don't usually handle the challenging DBs very well.

I think it's fairly easy to tell based on previous years who can handle top CB shadows and who can't. But it's harder for the younger guys who have just become WR1s like MThom because you just don't know how they will handle the transition of going from CB2 to CB1. And on most teams there is a pretty big drop of talent between the two.

I love this because Xavier Rhodes shut down AB/Evans this year already, & OBJ last season. Not so secret: I'm a Vikings fan.

[moishetreats]

It also depends on defensive schemes. Some have the shutdown corner, a la Woodson in his prime and Sherman for many years, take a side of the field and, essentially, eliminate it from play. Others will match their CB against a particular WR. Add into that offensive coaching schemes and philosophies, and you have many variables for how frequently throughout the game you have the matchup between the stud WR and shutdown corner.

That being said, offensive schemes now can be so well designed that they should be able to get any player meaningful targets against any defensive scheme.

[cweds]

Scott Barrett did some great research on this topic last summer: https://www.profootballfocus.com/news/m ... dez-bryant

[Mustachio]

Casey Hayward is pretty unbelievable. He was credited with 5 passes defended against Philadelphia a few weeks ago. I don't think I've ever seen a cornerback credited with 5 in one game since I started playing in my league with IDPs.

[waynesworld1234]

I think certain studs are just too good to get shut down, others are more easily shut down

People like AB/Evans/OBJ usually produce every week no matter who they face which is why they are top tier. Dez, DT, and other low end WR1s don't usually handle the challenging DBs very well.

I think it's fairly easy to tell based on previous years who can handle top CB shadows and who can't. But it's harder for the younger guys who have just become WR1s like MThom because you just don't know how they will handle the transition of going from CB2 to CB1. And on most teams there is a pretty big drop of talent between the two.

Well said - Julio is another example. Pretty sure he had a 189 yard game after Peterson called him out last season.

[Friction]

Its all relative to what the OC/Gameplan is too. If I am calling the plays and have the choice of throwing at a Rhodes type or abusing an over matched Trae Waynes, that seems like an easy decision. It is a lot of the reason top level corners are not the best in IDP, they just do not get thrown at. They have great skill to begin with, but teams will avoid them or at the minimum not pepper that corner's side with targets, especially if they are able to move the ball without doing so. I think in the end, the rules now still give the advantage to the receivers and if they really forced and saturated the stud WR with targets, they would get theirs in the end.