Cornerbacks Jalen Ramsey, A.J. Bouye Ranked Amongst Top 10 Cornerbacks
By David Levin
You could make the argument Xavier Rhodes and Jalen Ramsey are about as even as possible when talking about the best cornerbacks in the NFL.
After that, there is some debate. According to former NFL wide receiver James Jones, there is some difference between where he ranks Ramsey, and his teammate A.J. Bouye.
Jones listed his top 10 cornerbacks in a piece for NFL.com where he placed Rhodes, who plays for the Minnesota Vikings, at the top of the list. Ramsey, a first-round pick in 2016, was a close second. Bouye, who was also an All-Pro in 2017, was ranked eighth overall, way too far down the list in my opinion.
"“When the Jaguars drafted Ramsey, they envisioned a physical tone-setter in the secondary who could shut down the NFL’s top-notch wideouts. I’d say they got that and much more just two years into his career,” Jones wrote. “His extremely physical play, along with his won’t-back-down attitude, gives him a chance to win any ball that comes his way.”"
What makes this list even more inaccurate is the fact Jones admitted Bouye was better than Ramsey in passer rating yielded amongst cornerbacks in the league (52.1 to 36.1) amongst cornerbacks who participated in at least 400 snaps.
Bouye, who signed a free agent contract with the Jaguars last offseason, led the team with six interceptions last season and gave the Jaguars possibly the best cornerback tandem in the NFL league.
Jones did write he was impressed with Bouye and his ability as a “pure football player.”
"“He’s not the fastest defender, but he never gets beat deep. With Ramsey often shadowing the opponent’s WR1, Bouye has utterly dominated against WR2s and WR3s.”"
In looking at the list, can you definitively say Bouye isn’t better than cornerbacks Patrick Peterson (Arizona), Casey Hayward (Los Angeles Chargers) and Richard Sherman (San Francisco)? None of the three cornerbacks made the playoffs in 2017, but all were listed ahead of Bouye.
Darius Slay of Detroit and Marcus Peters of the Los Angeles Rams were also ranked above Bouye.
Jones wrote he was impressed with Bouye’s stat line for the 2017 season – 36.1 passer rating against and a 46.7 catch rate when targeted (92 times) in coverage – but did not rank him higher on his list.