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Cornerbacks are still in high demand
Clayton
By John Clayton
ESPN.com
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Broncos coach Mike Shanahan championed the idea that a shutdown cornerback could take a playoff team and turn it into a Super Bowl team. He watched the 49ers beat the Cowboys to earn a Super Bowl berth thanks in part to Deion Sanders and watched Sanders go to Dallas and accomplish the same goal.

Without a second thought, Shanahan traded halfback Clinton Portis to Washington for cornerback Champ Bailey last offseason. Good thought. Bad timing. Bailey, perhaps the league's best shutdown cornerback, arrived in Denver the year the NFL clamped down on illegal contact after five yards. Instead of shying away from Bailey, opponents attacked, targeting him almost as many times as Kelly Herndon, the team's other starting cornerback.

Shanahan thought Bailey would be the difference in getting past Peyton Manning in the playoffs. But things got worse. Instead of throwing for 377 yards and four touchdowns and scoring 41 points as he did in 2003, Manning burned the Broncos for 458 yards and four touchdowns and led the Colts to 49 points.

So the question heading into this offseason was whether cornerbacks would be devalued? After all, if a shutdown cornerback goes against a team's best receiver under the current emphasis of rules, quarterbacks will make that throw every time. Single coverage in a contact-free zone is golden for receivers such as Marvin Harrison. Will illegal contact affect the contracts cornerbacks are given and their status in the draft?

The answer heading into the April 23 draft is "not in the least." If anything, teams are getting even more desperate for coverage specialists. The prices for cornerbacks this offseason skyrocketed higher than for the receivers they cover. While the top receivers in free agency received around $4 million a year, top cornerbacks received $5 million or more.

"There is no question you still need the true cover corners," Colts general manager Bill Polian said.

The value of cornerbacks should only be enhanced by the draft. Four to six corners could go in the first round. If teams study their boards and circle needs at the position, they might even sneak another one into the first.

Antrel Rolle of Miami, Adam "Pac-Man" Jones of West Virginia, Carlos Rogers of Auburn, Justin Miller of Clemson, Fabian Washington of Nebraska and maybe even Marlin Jackson of Michigan and Corey Webster of LSU could be first-round picks, particularly when teams study the costs of getting a starting cornerback in free agency next year.

Stats Inc. does a study of what it calls, "burned defenders." Stats counts the number of times cornerbacks are targeted and how many times they get burned. From last year's tapes, Stats determined that Gary Baxter of Baltimore, Anthony Henry of the Browns and Fred Smoot of the Redskins were among the 12 most burned defenders in pro football, having between 57 and 63 passes completed on them. Combined, the trio gave up nine touchdowns, according to Stats Inc.

Each moved on to a new team this offseason with a $5 million contract.



Seems like Smoot made some plays but he was also targetted a lot. I used to be a big Smoot backer, but the more I think of it the more I like what Springs has brought.[/b]

Smoot was a risk taker and a poor tackler even though he gave his heart. I don't miss him if he left us.

His tackling was much improved last year. He played banged up and played with intensity.
I was sorry to see him go, but the team had no choice. He was just too expensive.
The contract he got was much more front loaded. He is going to get paid more in the first few years of his contract than if he stayed with us.

I'm glad he got his payday. And I'm glad it's not here.

skins81 wrote:His tackling was much improved last year. He played banged up and played with intensity.

I agree he played through pain and always played hard BUT the main reason Smoot gets so banged up is presicely because of his poor tackling form! He just tries to take out the reciever's ankles with his shoulder and that's why he gets so many stingers and shoulder problems.

Also, although his tackling was better last year, he was by far the poorest tackler on our defense. IMO, the 'Skins D was successful because we had good fundamental tacklers who didn't miss often and therefore the opposing team never got second chance yardage. Our D wasn't spectacular just solid and well coached.

Smoot is an awesome guy and a great cover corner but quite honestly I don't think he fit into G Williams' game plan all that well. I'm sure going to miss that guy but I feel like he wasn't the prototypical Williams' CB. I think that we are actually going to get better at CB and despite losing Smoot and Pierce our defense could actually be significantly better this year, hopefully number one in the NFL!

Smoot was a great personality, but he wasn't as good as we hyped him up to be.

I think his rating is around 77-78, a pretty good corner.

His heart and work ethic really made up for his short comings in tackling and soft coverage.

However I for one feel if we get a solid (aka, better) long term corner locked up with us, the loss of Smoot will seem minor.

Fans will miss him,Players will miss him, but he's happy, and we're happy, so leave it like that. No Champ Beef here.

I hope Smoot duz well in Minny, and I wish him the best. If he was just a tad better, as Joe Gibbs or DS I would have handed him that 10+ M SB.

Clinton Portis wrote:Fans will miss him,Players will miss him, but he's happy, and we're happy, so leave it like that. No Champ Beef here.

I agree with you completely CP! I think it's a real testament to Smoot's character that you never see 'Skins fans badmouthing him. He left in the right way. He got a significantly better deal than we could offer and I for one am happy for him even though I will miss him a lot.

This guy really matured over his four years in DC into a team leader, a fan favorite, and a class act. In the end though I agree with you 100% CP, "he's happy, and we're happy." Although it is tough watching him leave I think he really gained the respect of the fans here and because of that there doesn't seem to be any bad blood.

hkHog wrote:Also, although his tackling was better last year, he was by far the poorest tackler on our defense.

I wasn't extolling the virtues of his tackling skills. I was just pointing out how much he improved.

What can I say. I liked the guy. I don't think it was a huge loss to our defense, but I'll miss him nonetheless. The team will miss his leadership skills as well. Like I said before, we couldn't really afford to keep him. I think we are on the same page here.

I think it's more that Indianapolis became better in its passing attack with Brandon Stokely and Reggie Wayne both having great years. Besides Bailey and Lyynch, their secondary is not good.

I hate to disagree with Polian, but it seems to me that the cover corner is at least slightly devalued with the new contact rules.