- New team, same Sauce Gardner: Gardner was targeted four times in Week 10 and surrendered just two catches for 19 yards and a single first down, holding opposing quarterbacks to a 53.5 passer rating on throws in his coverage. He nearly capped his Colts debut with an interception, jumping a route that slipped through his hands, but even without the pick his performance was textbook. His lockdown percentage of 71.4% ranked eighth among all cornerbacks.
- Will Johnson continues to enjoy a great rookie year: Johnson’s rookie campaign was briefly paused in Week 10 due to a back injury, but his early-season body of work has already made a statement. Through ten weeks, the Cardinals cornerback has a PFF coverage grade of 74.9, and his stats back up the tape.
If quarterback is the most important position on the football field, then limiting that player’s effectiveness is the most important thing a defense can do.
A team can achieve this in two ways: it can pressure the passer to disrupt his timing, rhythm and accuracy, or it can shut down the opposing receivers.
Each week, after each NFL game has been reviewed and graded, PFF checks in on the top cornerbacks of the 2025 season. These rankings will change dramatically during the first part of the season, as one interception, one missed tackle or one deep completion can significantly change a player’s rank if the sample size is small. But as the number of speedsters increases, the numbers will stabilize and we’ll get a clearer picture of the best cornerbacks in the league.
Last year, these rankings used PFF All-Coverage charts and data to rank the cornerbacks, providing insight into PFF coverage numbers and our Successful Coverage Over Expected (SCOE) metric, which measures how well each coverage defender performed above expectations on non-targeted coverage snaps.
We evaluate each coverage defender’s ability to prevent separation, whether they are focused on the play or not. These rankings use normalization by playing level and adjustment of expectations. After all, matching up a receiver is harder than covering a running back, and playing man coverage is generally harder than matching up in a zone.
Here are the top 32 cornerbacks in PFF’s advanced coverage grade after Week 10 of the 2025 season.
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