Press Coverage

One of the things we’re about at Pro Football Focus is continuous improvement. So when one of the NFL teams we work with asked us if we could start looking into when a defensive player lines up in press coverage, our immediate thought was ‘why haven’t we done that sooner?’

So this year we started capturing it, and though we’re still working out how to best make use of it and it takes a bit longer to accurately capture than some of our other data, we’ve got some real interesting numbers for the purists out there.

Let’s start with who is lining up in press coverage most often. It won’t come as a surprise to anyone that the man at the top is commonly thought of as the prototypical press coverage corner.

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You expected someone other than Nnamdi Asomugha at the top here? Thought not. But the margin to which he plays press compared to the rest of the league should catch a few people off guard. He’s essentially in press for four of every five plays he’s in coverage. That the next best rate is around the 64% mark shows just how Philadelphia is using their shutdown corner. It will probably surprise a few to see Stephon Gilmore pressing so much, but when you consider he gives up 3.02 yards more per snap when he’s not in press coverage, that may help explain it.

Over at the other end of the spectrum it once again won’t surprise anyone who is playing the fewest percentage of coverage plays in press coverage, and once again it has a Philly connection.

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Indeed in a shock to absolutely nobody, Asante Samuel has been in press coverage on just three plays out of 75 in coverage. That is only marginally less than Cary Williams and Bradley Fletcher, while it's also fitting to see one of the Bears' cornerbacks making the list with Tim Jennings only spending 5.75% of plays in press.

That's how players are being used, but what about performance? Well, it should be noted that with such a limited sample size these numbers are going to be subject to massive fluctuation on a weekly basis until the season is out of its infancy. But it makes interesting reading nonetheless, and with that in mind we’re applying our Yards Per Coverage Snap signature stat formula to it (minimum of 20 snaps in press coverage).

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At the top of the leaderboard there are four guys who have yet to give up a single reception in press coverage, giving them the kind of numbers that may flatter them to a degree. So, even though Josh Wilson is down in the fifth spot, the fact he’s coped with 42 snaps in press and given up just one reception for two yards is further credit to one of the league’s most underrated defensive backs.

Meanwhile, Giants fans may want to look away when they see just who has given up the most yards per coverage snap while in press coverage.

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There are some mitigating circumstances to Corey Webster leading the way, with the Giant certainly having had a tough task of things in tracking the opposition's No. 1 wideout. But it’s concerning that he’s given up 2.44 Yards Per Coverage Snap more while in press. That’s a similar story for Buster Skrine and Joe Haden, who are both doing a more than adequate job in not allowing many yards until they are in challenging receivers with tight coverage at the line.

Ultimately, this brief look at the numbers acts as more of a teaser than anything else. They’ll be making their way onto our Signature Stat area and will become telling once the sample size starts to grow. But for now, your eyes are not deceiving you when you think of Asomugha and Samuel, but you may want to start playing closer to attention to when Wilson and Webster are in press coverage.

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