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Glossary of terms

As was the case with the receivers, this metric review measures medium (11-19 yards), deep (20-29 yards) and bomb (30-plus yards) pass attempts on a yards-per-attempt basis. Because cornerbacks tend to see fewer passes than wide receivers, I lowered the qualifying-attempt mark to 24. The yardage totals once again include "pass in the air" penalty attempts and yards (i.e., pass interference, defensive holding, illegal contact, etc.).

Now that we have the rules out of the way, here are the top 10 vertical cornerbacks from 2007:

Player Team Vert Att Vert Yds Vert YPA
Fred Bennett Houston 24 67 2.8
Quentin Jammer San Diego 35 159 4.5
Deshea Townsend Pittsburgh 35 178 5.1
Charles Tillman Chicago 34 199 5.9
Fred Smoot Washington 32 197 6.2
Terrence McGee Buffalo 44 271 6.2
Eric Wright Cleveland 46 300 6.5
Antonio Cromartie San Diego 29 202 7.0
Sheldon Brown Philadelphia 40 279 7.0
Will Allen Miami 30 211 7.0

Fred Bennett might be the best young cornerback in the NFL. He not only posted a phenomenally low vertical YPA but also gave up only six completions in those 24 attempts, none of which were at the deep or bomb level. Bennett's overall YPA of 4.7 was third-best among cornerbacks last season, which is another reason I think he might be only one full season as a starter away from being a serious Pro Bowl candidate.

Antonio Cromartie's appearance on this list proves he is more than just a ball hawk, but the most surprising Charger on this list has to be Quentin Jammer. After a so-so first few years in the league coverage-wise, Jammer has stepped up his game big-time the past couple of years.

The other two names of note on this list are Fred Smoot and Eric Wright. Smoot was seen by many as a stopgap backup cornerback when the Redskins picked him up before last season, but he actually outplayed every other cornerback in the Washington secondary. Wright had some struggles vertically early on, as he allowed successful plays on six of the first eight vertical passes thrown against him in 2007, but he gave up only 13 other successful plays in this category the rest of the year. Wright's growth was a primary reason Cleveland felt it could trade Leigh Bodden.

We have to take the bad with the good, so here are the bottom 10 vertical cornerbacks from 2007:

Player Team Vertical Att Vertical Yds Vertical YPA
Ellis Hobbs New England 51 630 12.4
Cedric Griffin Minnesota 43 532 12.4
Ike Taylor Pittsburgh 56 710 12.7
Eric Green Arizona 24 305 12.7
Travis Daniels Miami 26 369 14.2
Corey Ivy Baltimore 38 552 14.5
Ron Bartell St. Louis 24 349 14.5
Patrick Surtain Kansas City 30 439 14.6
Drayton Florence San Diego 25 394 15.8
Jason David New Orleans 37 707 19.1
It will come as no surprise to anyone who saw Jason David play last year that he's at the bottom of this list. He allowed 13 completions on the 19 deep/bomb passes thrown at him, so he performed worse the longer the ball was chucked downfield. It was this type of play that caused the Saints to pick up Randall Gay in free agency and Tracy Porter in the draft.

When I first saw Jammer's and Cromartie's vertical pass numbers, I thought they might have been that good in large part because of the Chargers' safety play. But if Drayton Florence could do this poorly vertically, the safeties couldn't have been that good. Florence's historical numbers prior to 2007 were much better than his numbers last year, and that has to be what Jacksonville was banking on when it signed him this offseason.

Ike Taylor was the second-most targeted vertical cornerback (behind only Marcus Trufant with 63 attempts), and his 12.7 YPA shows why that was. He has been a coverage liability for multiple seasons, and it would be a surprise if he kept his starting role in 2008.

one thing i noticed.. Drayton Florence was 2nd to last on this list and he was a guy that a lot of people on this site was clamboring for...