Atlanta finished the 2021 season with a 7-10 record and missed the playoffs for the fourth consecutive year. Second-year head coach Arthur Smith leads a young team trying to build around a youth movement after trading away perennial Pro Bowlers Julio Jones and Matt Ryan over the past two seasons. The Falcons boast one of the best players in the NFL on their team, and it isn’t Pro Bowl TE Kyle Pitts.
According to NFL.com’s Nick Shook and NextGen stats, Falcons cornerback A.J. Terrell is the best coverage corner in the League.
In order to qualify, players needed a minimum of 300 coverage snaps, 40 targets as the nearest defender and a catch rate allowed below expectation (meaning they’re consistently breaking up passes that were likely to be completions). Also, qualifiers needed a negative targeted expected points added (a metric used to quantify how much an individual player impacts an opponents’ scoring potential and the most important metric used in this exercise), a tight-window percentage of at least 20 (15 for linebackers, due to the nature of their position as second-level run defenders and coverage defenders) and a maximum passer rating allowed of 80.
Terrell started all 16 games in the 2021 season and finished with 81 tackles, 13 passes defended, three interceptions, and one forced fumble. According to NextGen, Terrell led the League in completion percentage allowed (41.1 percent), yards allowed per target (4.1), and coverage success rate (68.5 percent), earning the second-year corner this designation.
Fans look to QB Marcus Mariota, TE Kyle Pitts, RB Cordarelle Patterson, and rookie wide receiver Drake London to lead the offense in 2022 , but A.J. Terrell gives defensive coordinator Dean Pees a prized piece to build around this season.
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