Football is designed to avoid one-on-one matchups. The 22 players (on the diagram, at least) move in concert based on where the flow of play dictates, with each position carrying nearly equal influence in the outcome of the play.
But as the game spreads out and players get farther from the ball, the greater the frequency and importance of individual matchups. For all of today’s schematic ingenuity, the most sustainable method of generating explosive offense is to have an unguardable force in your skill position group. Forcing a defense to divert resources to stop one guy and attacking one-on-one matchups when they’re available are the hallmarks of the best kind of offense.
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Defensively, that leaves one position with disproportionate responsibility in limiting big gains: cornerback. At the top of the 2022 NFL Draft, there are two players who have jostled for CB1 status since 2020, Derek Stingley Jr. and Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner. As far as narrative and production are concerned, Gardner is ahead. He played his best football in 2021, which coincided with a historic stretch of football for the University of Cincinnati. Stingley, who played in just three games in 2021 because of injury, is now two years removed from his collegiate peak and LSU’s perfect 2019.
Just as interceptions and passes breakups are flawed as reference points in ranking defensive backs, no singular metric would make for a definitive tiebreaker between Gardner and Stingley. Both players meet the athletic criteria necessary to handle every kind of receiver, with Gardner (6-2 3/4) standing as the taller prospect and boasting a five-inch advantage in wingspan. Judging each corner’s level of competition, Stingley saw more future NFL talent on a weekly basis in the SEC, but Gardner’s consistency never wavered against Notre Dame or Alabama in 2021.
The best way to try to separate the two is by studying the film. Let’s break down the differences in the two corners’ styles of play before identifying best fits for both and picking who deserves to be at the top of the position group.
Release point (Press technique)
A proper press has relatively little to do with a corner’s upper body strength. Eye discipline, footwork and hip mobility are the foundational elements of consistent success at the line of scrimmage. The actual “punch” from a defensive back — much like an offensive tackle in pass protection — is the final piece of the puzzle, used to keep cushion and leverage on inside and outside releases. Time equals yards when you’re out on the proverbial island. Much like guarding a ball handler in basketball, impeding pathways is more important than asserting physical dominance. The longer a defensive back can stay in the press/release phase, the less likely his receiver will be targeted.
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Gardner and Stingley have different approaches to their execution at the line of scrimmage, which influences the ways they cover routes down the field (we’ll get to that later). There are different names and terminology for everything in football, but we’ll use “mirror” and “kick slide” as our nomenclature.
The mirror technique is Stingley’s flavor of press. As a player without top-tier length (30 5/8-inch arms, 6-foot-2 wingspan), it behooves Stingley to operate this way, allowing his fluidity to do the work his arms can’t. When mirroring a release, the corner will inch away from the line of scrimmage, trying to maintain his one-yard cushion as the receiver works his release. This allows the defender to get a clear look at the intentions and tempo of the route he’s defending. Weight distribution through the core is key: lean too far forward or backward and risk tipping off the routes you’re most concerned about the receiver running, opening the door to be set-up or shoved off balance.
Stingley’s mirror technique is the best tool in his belt. His acumen in coverage flashes as he inches away, running through a rapid process of elimination based on what the receiver is giving him. That technique fit the system he performed best in through his college career: a press quarters system built to flood the seams and alleys with run support players and coverage defenders. With no safety in the middle of the field or rolling over the top, Stingley’s press execution stalls the timing on one-on-one throws and forces a higher trajectory on deep throws, buying him time to play the ball in the air.
However, in short-area situations (low red zone, goal line, third and short), the mirror release can leave corners vulnerable. Because offenses are expecting man coverage and not looking to take vertical shots, receivers can set up longer releases by selling an inside/outside move and breaking hard in the opposite direction, change speeds and force the defender to play flat-footed, or box out the cornerback and physically deny him from making a play on the football. Stingley has a great deal of confidence and patience, so he’s rarely turned around or left behind in coverage, but he can fall into some inconsistency when defending in-breaking routes like slants that require him to match the physicality of the receiver he’s guarding. To avoid losing those reps, he’ll need to utilize his hands more often when his matchup tests his physicality.
The kick slide technique is probably the most commonly used by defensive backs at the line of scrimmage, and it’s Gardner’s favorite way of neutralizing receivers. As a taller corner with a 6-7 wingspan, Gardner has the dimensions to use this more aggressive method of press coverage without being punished. Kick-sliding, unlike mirroring, doesn’t ask defenders to step away from the line of scrimmage to create a cushion. Utilizing pre-snap leverage that’s dictated by alignment, the defensive back will use the receiver’s first two steps to determine what kind of release to deny with body positioning. From there, the corner will punch if the receiver pushes into him or match the receiver on any out-breaking or deep route. In the video below, Gardner is at the bottom of the screen.
Gardner’s physical attributes amplify the effectiveness of his kick slide press technique. He plays with very fluid hips, especially relative to his size, but sliding at the line of scrimmage puts the defensive back in a semi-transition, meaning he’s already begun the process of turning and running with the route downfield. Not only does that eliminate some of the body movement skills needed to mirror, but it also forces the offense to declare its intentions much earlier. When Gardner has a clue of the routes he might see pre-snap, and it’s confirmed by the receiver’s release, he eliminates it before it gets 10 yards downfield.
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Because the routes declare earlier against kick slides, it’s important to do your best work within the first five yards of the route. A whiff, switching your hips/leverage or outrunning the receiver vertically and ceding yards underneath are common mistakes — and surefire ways to get beat for big yardage. Gardner has avoided major blunders because of his arm length and physicality, but he can fall into a poor habit of trying to “jump press” receivers, punching with two hands before moving his feet. Savvy pros will use that lunging aggression to force him off balance, leaving it to Gardner’s recovery speed to determine whether he’s able to contest the catch.
My pick: Derek Stingley Jr.
Stingley’s approach carries a high degree of difficulty at the professional level, but it is a safe way to eliminate explosive play potential and disrupts the timing for easy throws on the perimeter. Gardner is an impressive player in press coverage, but I prefer Stingley’s patience to Gardner’s overzealous hands in a league that loves to call holding and illegal contact penalties.
Route distribution and break point (In phase vs. Out of phase)
How a corner handles the receiver’s release informs how he’ll play the route, in terms of how tight to the receiver’s body he can be. The binary of playing in or out of phase has less to do with technique and more to do with body positioning, making it clearer to point out the differences to untrained eyes. To be in phase means to make contact with the near hip of the receiver, playing between the ball and the receiver (much like being in an effective, legal guarding position in basketball).
Gardner is an in-phase corner because of how he plays at the line of scrimmage. Kick-sliding and using his hands gets Gardner in the hip pocket of the receiver almost immediately, dissuading quarterbacks from trying him unless the receiver is good enough to beat tight coverage. This is an ideal position to deny the ball and explains why Gardner wasn’t targeted very often throughout his career.
When routes break, the Cincinnati defensive back sticks closely, flashing his impressive hip mobility at his size. Even when receivers are breaking away from his leverage, Gardner can sink his hips and stay in good relation to the wide receiver, and his short area burst gets him back in phase quickly.
As for Stingley, he’s become comfortable with playing more out of phase and trusting his feel for the play to defend routes as they distribute and break. Conventionally, an out-of-phase defensive back would be asked to watch the receiver’s hand instead of the ball — playing for a pass breakup instead of an interception — but Stingley trusts himself enough to play off of the pace of the route and the intentions of the quarterback to indicate when it’s time to squeeze space and play the football.
Stingley is also plenty capable of playing in phase: In 2019, when LSU ran a lot of Cover 1 on the way to its national title, Stingley punished quarterbacks for trying him when he was playing tight to routes. It’s just become clearer, as he’s developed and become more comfortable with himself and guarding his competition, that he doesn’t mind allowing more space and opening up his field of vision.
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My pick: Ahmad Gardner
Trying to stay in-phase at all times is a taxing style of play on the perimeter, but it’s the most surefire way to eliminate receivers before the ball is in the air. To play out of phase in the NFL and produce at an elite level requires years of experience and knowledge of opponent tendencies, so I’d be more comfortable with banking on early returns from Gardner when it comes to defending the entirety of the route tree on a snap-to-snap basis.
Catch point (ball skills)
As a coach, one of the first things I tell players is that “nothing in football comes naturally.” Nowhere is that more evident than at defensive back, where you’re judged on how well you can lose ground or move backward. With all the other considerations involved in playing good coverage, there’s a reason it’s rare to find corners with good ball skills. More often than not, just making sure a receiver doesn’t come down with the pass is adequate. But what a player can do with the ball in the air is a major piece of evaluating his ceiling. Trevon Diggs — whom I discussed last season — had to be acknowledged in any cornerback rankings in spite of the yardage and touchdowns allowed, because generating that many turnovers and passes defensed is a scarce occurrence.
Using just the numbers, Gardner had a combined 36 interceptions and passes broken up over 37 games, compared to 32 over the course of 25 games for Stingley. Stingley’s statistical advantage reflects his special ability to track the football through its flight. Stingley embodies the concept of playing the ball as though it’s intended for him, and his wide catch radius and dexterity lead me to believe his arms are longer than pre-draft measurements. Over the shoulder, away from his leverage, along the sideline and everything in between — no cornerback in this class has better tape of taking the ball out of the air than the LSU prodigy.
.@LSUfootball's Derek Stingley Jr. said GIMME THAT❗️ pic.twitter.com/Dd0DQPOSqO
— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) October 5, 2019
Gardner can snatch poorly thrown passes out of the air, but he’s at his best when using his wingspan to bat the ball away. This is a product of his play style, too: Playing tight to routes so often doesn’t leave much room to come away with the ball, unless it’s a pure 50/50 situation. Knocking away throws is valuable, but Stingley’s ability to snatch the ball out of the air is harder to find. If he were a receiver, Stingley would still be in the conversation as one of the best players attacking the football in this draft class.
My Pick: Derek Stingley Jr.
Why Stingley is my CB1
Since 2019, Stingley has met — and surpassed — any expectations I could have had. Wearing No. 7 at LSU invites the heavy burden of a legacy Patrick Peterson started in 2008, and it’s my belief that injuries and turmoil in the program are all that preclude Stingley from being held in such high regard.
Stingley checks every box: He’s adept at the line of scrimmage, can handle every route on the tree, trusts himself to play the throw and has the ball skills to do something when the ball arrives. I would like to see him play a little more aggressively at times, and his tackling is below the expectations I have for a player of his caliber, but there isn’t a receiver who will line up across from Stingley and believe any production will come easily.
As the NFL returns to two-high safety shells, Stingley is more likely to find an ideal schematic fit for his skill set: a press corner in quarters coverage, allowing the defense to flood the coverage to the opposite side or rob throws in the middle of the field. The Jets, Seahawks, Commanders, Vikings and Chargers are all teams in or near the top half of the first round that can use Stingley. If he reaches his ceiling, Stingley can make multiple All-Pro teams and be the best defensive player to come out of this draft. Ranking Gardner behind him is no slight to the Cincinnati corner. These two players share the top tier at the position, and there’s a large gulf between their potential and the potential of the rest of the 2022 cornerback draft class.
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Unfortunately for Gardner, he might be too late to cash in on the Legion of Boom era of defensive football, which would have greatly valued his body type and play style in a way that would make him just as sought after as the top edge rushers this spring. But Gardner can still be a star corner in any defense that believes in playing Cover 1 when it expects the offense to pass. The Giants, Saints, Patriots, Steelers and Chiefs are teams that probably have Gardner ranked near the top of their draft boards.
No matter which player is the first corner to come off the board, I’m confident both can realize their potential and be the next young NFL corners to plant flags on their own islands.
(Top photo of Derek Stingley Jr: Ronald Martinez / Getty Images)