- Joined
- Aug 3, 2009
- Messages
- 5,744
- Reaction score
- 5,306
I'm kind of surprised this hasn't been made yet. But since I've been joking lately that I'm the president of his fan club, I figured I'd make the thread.
I have to admit, I hated this pick on draft day. We had traded down several times, had some major team needs, but took a guy who wasn't certain to even start for us. But after reading up a bit more, I became a believer.
A lot of you probably knew all about his huge year in college, especially the great draft gurus we have here, but for the more casual fans, check this out:
Devin McCourty, Rutgers, NFL Draft - CBSSports.com - NFLDraftScout.com
Against McCourty, the Scarlet Knights opponents attempted 249 throws, completing just 88 (35.34 percent) for 684 yards and only two scores, an average of 7.77 yards per pass completion. He has allowed just 2.75 yards per pass attempt, the lowest figure of any active player in the Big East Conference.
While those figures are very impressive, they do not tell the entire story of this shutdown cornerback's ability. Against his main pass coverage assignments, McCourty has held those receivers to only 42 receptions for 386 yards on 158 passes targeted into his area, meaning that quarterbacks have completed just 26.58 percent of those tosses and their intended targets were limited to 9.19 yards per pass completion and 2.44 yards per attempt.
Those same receivers averaged 33.84 catches for 430.05 yards (12.71 yards per catch) and 2.47 touchdowns per season vs. other cornerbacks they faced. Devin has proven to be an excellent press coverage defender, as his excellent field vision has seen him make plays on the ball 45.39 percent of the time outside his area, coming to the aid after a teammate had blown an assignment. He has jammed/rerouted those pass catchers away from 148 incomplete attempts (average of 3.84 per game), the most of any cornerback in the Division I ranks during that span.
While developing his shutdown cornerback skills, McCourty is not only a top-notch coverage defender, but has also excelled playing inside the box. He made 91 of his 236 tackles in run support (38.56 percent) and has proven to be a drive-killer, as he registered an incredible 94 third-down stops and 33 more on fourth-down action (38.60 percent of his plays made resulted in killing the opposition's series).
I didn't even include the punt and kick return portions of his resume.
With Bodden's injury, McCourty was thrown into the fire but emerged as our #1 corner. There were some awful moments in the pre-season (the St. Louis game for example), but he's been our best corner without a doubt.
Through 6 games, he has 23 solo tackles (26 total), 4 passes defensed and got his first INT last week against San Diego. At the same time, he's still a rookie and still learning. But BB has praised his intelligence, saying he's one of the few players who knows what everyone on the field's responsibilities are.
I think he has a chance to be the best corner we've had since Ty Law. Right now, he's still learning, and his ball skills aren't the greatest. But he's getting better. Against Baltimore, he was flagged for pass interference when he didn't turn his head around with the ball in the air. But he adjusted and later in the game, on a similar pass, he got his head around in time to knock the pass down easily.
This kid has been solid so far, but I think he's going to get much better and has the potential to be a shutdown corner.
I have to admit, I hated this pick on draft day. We had traded down several times, had some major team needs, but took a guy who wasn't certain to even start for us. But after reading up a bit more, I became a believer.
A lot of you probably knew all about his huge year in college, especially the great draft gurus we have here, but for the more casual fans, check this out:
Devin McCourty, Rutgers, NFL Draft - CBSSports.com - NFLDraftScout.com
Against McCourty, the Scarlet Knights opponents attempted 249 throws, completing just 88 (35.34 percent) for 684 yards and only two scores, an average of 7.77 yards per pass completion. He has allowed just 2.75 yards per pass attempt, the lowest figure of any active player in the Big East Conference.
While those figures are very impressive, they do not tell the entire story of this shutdown cornerback's ability. Against his main pass coverage assignments, McCourty has held those receivers to only 42 receptions for 386 yards on 158 passes targeted into his area, meaning that quarterbacks have completed just 26.58 percent of those tosses and their intended targets were limited to 9.19 yards per pass completion and 2.44 yards per attempt.
Those same receivers averaged 33.84 catches for 430.05 yards (12.71 yards per catch) and 2.47 touchdowns per season vs. other cornerbacks they faced. Devin has proven to be an excellent press coverage defender, as his excellent field vision has seen him make plays on the ball 45.39 percent of the time outside his area, coming to the aid after a teammate had blown an assignment. He has jammed/rerouted those pass catchers away from 148 incomplete attempts (average of 3.84 per game), the most of any cornerback in the Division I ranks during that span.
While developing his shutdown cornerback skills, McCourty is not only a top-notch coverage defender, but has also excelled playing inside the box. He made 91 of his 236 tackles in run support (38.56 percent) and has proven to be a drive-killer, as he registered an incredible 94 third-down stops and 33 more on fourth-down action (38.60 percent of his plays made resulted in killing the opposition's series).
I didn't even include the punt and kick return portions of his resume.
With Bodden's injury, McCourty was thrown into the fire but emerged as our #1 corner. There were some awful moments in the pre-season (the St. Louis game for example), but he's been our best corner without a doubt.
Through 6 games, he has 23 solo tackles (26 total), 4 passes defensed and got his first INT last week against San Diego. At the same time, he's still a rookie and still learning. But BB has praised his intelligence, saying he's one of the few players who knows what everyone on the field's responsibilities are.
I think he has a chance to be the best corner we've had since Ty Law. Right now, he's still learning, and his ball skills aren't the greatest. But he's getting better. Against Baltimore, he was flagged for pass interference when he didn't turn his head around with the ball in the air. But he adjusted and later in the game, on a similar pass, he got his head around in time to knock the pass down easily.
This kid has been solid so far, but I think he's going to get much better and has the potential to be a shutdown corner.
