AFC South: Stanford Routt
How KC's Routt move messes with Jaguars
February, 21, 2012
Feb 21
3:14
PM ET
By
Paul Kuharsky | ESPN.com
The Kansas City Chiefs' signing of cornerback Stanford Routt will likely wind up hurting the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Stay with me here.
By signing Routt, the Chiefs no longer need to re-sign Brandon Carr, their solid No. 2 corner. That gives them the freedom to use their franchise tag, if they so desire, on receiver Dwayne Bowe.
If Bowe doesn’t hit the market, there is one less good receiver available. Whether or not he’s the one the Jaguars covet, they should be as big a courter of receivers as we see when free agency opens March 13.
The more that are out there the better for Jacksonville.
So the AFC West has messed with at least one AFC South team — with Oakland releasing Routt and the Chiefs snatching him up.
Although the Jaguars also need a corner, and Carr's now out there.
Stay with me here.
By signing Routt, the Chiefs no longer need to re-sign Brandon Carr, their solid No. 2 corner. That gives them the freedom to use their franchise tag, if they so desire, on receiver Dwayne Bowe.
If Bowe doesn’t hit the market, there is one less good receiver available. Whether or not he’s the one the Jaguars covet, they should be as big a courter of receivers as we see when free agency opens March 13.
The more that are out there the better for Jacksonville.
So the AFC West has messed with at least one AFC South team — with Oakland releasing Routt and the Chiefs snatching him up.
Although the Jaguars also need a corner, and Carr's now out there.
RTC: Gene Smith not all about choir boys
February, 14, 2012
Feb 14
8:23
AM ET
By
Paul Kuharsky | ESPN.com
Reading the coverage ...
Read of the day: Doug Farrar of Shutdown Corner pays tribute to him mom who passed away. She became a football fanatic to help fuel her son’s passions.
Stanford Routt will visit the Texans and the Titans, says Jason La Canfora of NFL Network.
Houston Texans
Fifteen players the Texans could take at No. 26, from Lance Zierlein of the Houston Chronicle blog.
Reasons not to draft a receiver first, from Stephanie Stradley of the Chronicle blog.
Indianapolis Colts
Chuck Pagano hired Joe Gilbert as an offensive assistant, says the Indianapolis Star.
Jacksonville Jaguars
Gene Smith isn’t strictly about bringing in choir boys, says Gene Frenette of the Florida Times-Union.
Team Teal has raised its goals, says Tania Ganguli of the Times-Union. Tony Boselli says the team has “graduated from blackouts.” I’m not so sure -- the team and or sponsors bought the last tickets for at least a couple games last season.
Tennessee Titans
Draft analysts say the draft is thin at pass-rushing defensive ends. So it’s a bad year for the Titans to need one, says John Glennon. Perhaps it prompts the team to look differently at free agency?
Marcus Robertson has been hired by Jim Schwartz as a defensive assistant in Detroit, says John Glennon.
Read of the day: Doug Farrar of Shutdown Corner pays tribute to him mom who passed away. She became a football fanatic to help fuel her son’s passions.
Stanford Routt will visit the Texans and the Titans, says Jason La Canfora of NFL Network.
Houston Texans
Fifteen players the Texans could take at No. 26, from Lance Zierlein of the Houston Chronicle blog.
Reasons not to draft a receiver first, from Stephanie Stradley of the Chronicle blog.
Indianapolis Colts
Chuck Pagano hired Joe Gilbert as an offensive assistant, says the Indianapolis Star.
Jacksonville Jaguars
Gene Smith isn’t strictly about bringing in choir boys, says Gene Frenette of the Florida Times-Union.
Team Teal has raised its goals, says Tania Ganguli of the Times-Union. Tony Boselli says the team has “graduated from blackouts.” I’m not so sure -- the team and or sponsors bought the last tickets for at least a couple games last season.
Tennessee Titans
Draft analysts say the draft is thin at pass-rushing defensive ends. So it’s a bad year for the Titans to need one, says John Glennon. Perhaps it prompts the team to look differently at free agency?
Marcus Robertson has been hired by Jim Schwartz as a defensive assistant in Detroit, says John Glennon.
Power Rankings: Top 10 NFL cornerbacks
April, 19, 2011
4/19/11
1:00
PM ET
By
Paul Kuharsky | ESPN.com
ESPN.com IllustrationDarrelle Revis won a tight race over Nnamdi Asomugha as the NFL's top cornerback.Positional Power Rankings have produced some wild variations in voting. But none has had so many players mentioned as cornerbacks.
Previously, multiple votes had yielded 17 names. Our polling for the top 10 cornerbacks in the NFL touched on 23, a record that might be hard to break.
In another close finish, the Jets' Darrelle Revis edged the Raiders' Nnamdi Asomugha. The two collected all the first- and second-place votes, but Revis outscored Asomugha 77-75 thanks to five first-place votes.
Overall, veterans ruled the day, with the top five outpointing the rest of the field by a good deal. Revis and Asomugha were followed by three players with a collective 33 seasons of NFL cornerbacking experience: Green Bay’s Charles Woodson, Philadelphia’s Asante Samuel and Denver’s Champ Bailey.
Woodson finished with 58 points, Samuel with 54 and Bailey with 53.
Of the votes for that trio, only two fell outside of the top five. NFC North maestro Kevin Seifert had Woodson sixth, just behind his teammate Tramon Williams. And AFC East maven Tim Graham placed Bailey seventh, with New England’s Devin McCourty (fifth) and Minnesota’s Antoine Winfield above him.
I had presumed Bailey started to slip in his 12th season in 2010. Then he shut down a red-hot Dwayne Bowe and got my attention in a way I remembered when I put him third on my ballot.
Ranking the Cornerbacks: How They Voted
| Rk | Cornerbacks |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | Tot |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| JC | TG | PK | MS | KS | JW | BW | PY | |||
| 1 | Darrelle Revis | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 77 |
| 2 | Nnamdi Asomugha | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 75 |
| 3 | Charles Woodson | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 58 |
| 4 | Asante Samuel | 3 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 54 |
| 5 | Champ Bailey | 5 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 53 |
| 6 | Antoine Winfield | -- | 6 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 6 | -- | 29 |
| 7 | Tramon Williams | 7 | -- | -- | 7 | 5 | -- | 7 | -- | 18 |
| 8 | Devin McCourty | 10 | 5 | 9 | 8 | 10 | 9 | 9 | -- | 17 |
| 9 | DeAngelo Hall | -- | 8 | -- | -- | 8 | 7 | -- | -- | 10 |
| 10 | Cortland Finnegan | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 8 | -- | 6 | 8 |
| 11 | Stanford Routt | 6 | -- | -- | 10 | -- | -- | -- | -- | 6 |
| 12 | Johnathan Joseph | -- | -- | 7 | -- | -- | 10 | -- | -- | 5 |
| 12 | Antonio Cromartie | 8 | -- | -- | -- | 9 | -- | -- | -- | 5 |
| 12 | Brent Grimes | -- | 9 | 8 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 5 |
| 15 | Jabari Greer | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 7 | 4 |
| 16 | Brandon Flowers | 10 | -- | 9 | -- | -- | -- | -- | 3 | |
| 16 | D. Rodgers-Cromartie | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 8 | 3 |
| 16 | Charles Tillman | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 8 | -- | 3 |
| 19 | Leon Hall | 9 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 2 |
| 19 | Dunta Robinson | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 9 | 2 |
| 21 | Ron Bartell | -- | -- | 10 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1 |
| 21 | Corey Webster | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 10 | 1 |
| 21 | Quentin Jammer | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 10 | -- | 1 |
| Key: JC=John Clayton; MS=Mike Sando; KS=Kevin Seifert; PY=Pat Yasinskas; TG=Tim Graham; BW=Bill Williamson; JW=James Walker; PK=Paul Kuharsky Rank: 1=10 points, 2=9 points, 3=8 points, 4=7 points, 5=6 points, etc. | ||||||||||
“We're in the offseason, so I've taken into account not only last season's performances, but also how the player projects into 2011 when compiling my positional Power Rankings ballots,” he said. “Bailey is going to be 33 years old before the start of next season and is on the downside. He's still great, but for how long?
“Power Rankings shouldn't be career-achievement awards. Devin McCourty was second-team Associated Press All-Pro, a first-team Sporting News All-Pro, voted a Pro Bowl starter by the fans, coaches and players and tied for second in interceptions. He deserved to be ranked ahead of Bailey, who wasn't mentioned for All-Pro and made the Pro Bowl as an injury replacement.”
“One great season does not make a great career,” Yasinskas said. “Let's see him do it again. I'm not saying he's got to do it for 10 or 15 years. I've got a guy in my own back yard, Ronde Barber, and a lot of people say he's already put up Hall of Fame numbers. I didn't even put him on the list because I think he's not much more than a very nice player in the system. But you have to be consistently at the top for at least a few years before you get on a top 10 list.”
Winfield finished sixth (29 points), Williams seventh (18), McCourty eighth (17), Washington’s DeAngelo Hall ninth (10) and Tennessee’s Cortland Finnegan 10th (eight).
Williams was the lone player to make the top 10 while not being looked at as his team’s No. 1 guy. As much as I liked him, that prevented him from getting one of my votes. Same for Oakland’s Stanford Routt.
Rank 'Em: Top NFL cornerbacks
How do the best cornerbacks in the NFL stack up? ESPN.com's stable of NFL bloggers weighed in with its rankings and we've tabulated the results.
John Clayton had Routt sixth and NFC West chart-master Mike Sando had him 10th, which left Routt in 11th place. Clayton set me straight on why Routt was, in fact, deserving.
“Nnamdi has years of not being thrown on,” Clayton said. “He’s had years in which only 14 or 15 passes were caught against him in a season.
“Routt had a phenomenal year in 2010, which led to his big contract,” Clayton said. “The percentage of passes against him that were completed was among the lowest in the league. His job is tougher because he has more passes thrown on him because of Nnamdi.”
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ABOUT THIS BLOG
Paul Kuharsky
Kuharsky joined ESPN.com in 2008 after 12 years covering the Oilers/Titans and the NFL for The (Nashville) Tennessean. The New Jersey native and Columbia graduate lives in Nashville with his wife and son.
