Broncos CB Patrick Surtain II Receives Questionable Ranking From PFF
It's June in the NFL. The ubiquitous lists and player rankings that mark this time on the NFL calendar are in full swing, and if nothing else, analyzing which Denver Broncos show up where helps pass the time here at Mile High Huddle until training camp.
One of the preeminent list masters is none other than Pro Football Focus. To keep the content flowing at this time of year, the analytics giant is publishing its top-32 players at each position.
At cornerback, Broncos' All-Pro Patrick Surtain II checked in as the... No. 4 player at his position in the NFL. You read that right.
Surtain’s play doesn’t look as flashy as that of some other cornerbacks, but few players can play with his level of consistency and control. His PFF coverage grade jumped from 66.3 as a rookie to 86.7 last season, which put him in the All-Pro conversation. He had 12 games allowing fewer than 25 receiving yards, including his final six outings.
Sauce Gardner, Jalen Ramsey, and Darius Slay are the three corners PFF ranked ahead of Surtain entering 2023. Reading what was written on Surtain and interpreting the tonality, it sounds like his ranking might reflect the site's caution about him being a one-year wonder.
Jumping 20 points in PFF's grading system over Year 1 to 2 is no mean feat, but perhaps the site isn't quite ready to christen Surtain the No. 1 corner in the league after just one year. Then again, Gardner was a rookie last year, and he was ranked No. 1, so there goes that theory.
It's hard to say why PFF isn't giving Surtain more love, especially over the boom-or-bust Ramsey (but still very, very good) and the long-in-the-tooth Slay. Both Ramsey and Slay had better ball production than Surtain last year, but Gardner didn't. So interception totals can't be it.
READ: Patrick Surtain II Unveils New Goal for 2023
In the end, it's arbitrary. Just like PFF's individual grades, which, ostensibly, factor greatly into these rankings. PFF has a grading formula, to be sure, and while the grades can often be a decent indicator of a player's production, they aren't perfectly reliable.
But, then again, neither is this list.
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