Quarter mark: the top 5 corners

Who barely missed the cut?

Nate Clements (49ers)?

Nice to see C Wood in your list... he is also athletic enough to play safety and tackles as good as Winfield.

Same question as Tyson, I'm interested in seeing who is close. Corey Webster had a fantastic season last year, and Cortland Finnegan was really hyped (he's fallen back to Earth now).

Cortland Finnegan? This is a list for the first four games of this season... Finnegan is one of the reasons the Titans are 0-4.

Matt, what does the scheme do for a corner? It seems to me that at least 3 of these guys are directly affected by scheme.

Winfield was a good CB in Buffalo and also in his first few years with the Vikings, but once Tomlin(and by extension Frasier) implemented the Cover 2, he seemed to play at a whole new level.

Woodson was a good CB while in Oakland, but when he was a FA no one but GB even offered him a contract. Playing the man up, bump and run in GB with their frequent CB blitzes, he showed he was an incredible CB, where he was only considered 'good' in Oakland.

Champ Bailey was probably the best CB in the league while in Washington, but seemed to fall back the earth once he was traded to Denver. Now, with Nolan's new scheme, he's been lights out again.

Nnamdi and Revis have had changes in philosophy, but never a true scheme change so they're difficult to assess in that way, but how much of an effect does the scheme have on a CB. Or even any DB for that matter as Darren Sharper seems to have risen from semi-obscurity again this year with a new team and new scheme?

If were talking about this season, I think Leon Hall should be in the discussion. He playing extremely well this year. Revis is the unquestioned number 1 this season so far.

I think I disagree with Bailey being top 5 this year so far. I watched the Denver-Dallas game this week and there were plays to be made on him, Dallas/Romo just couldn't delivery. Not a knock on Bailey, he's playing extremely well, but I would slide him to 6, put Hall at 2 and leave the rest.

Jabari Greer has played very well so far for New Orleans.

Maybe Nate Clements at No. 5 over Winfield, but a pretty solid list of corners that you have to watch out for on Sunday.

Is there a site to find out the amount of times certain players have been flagged? I'm not trying to disute Charles Woodson - he was NFC Defensive Player of the Month - but everytime I see the Packers play he's always picking up (multiple) penalties.

Speaking of GB corners and schemes, Al Harris fits not that Champ Bailey category as a guy with good man coverage skills getting wasted in a zone.

How is Corey Webster not included? He had an outstanding year last year and has only continued that this year. Take a look at the receivers he's played this year and the stats that they've put up:

Santana Moss: 5 targers, 2 Receptions, 6 yards
Roy Williams: 4 targets, 1 Reception, 18 yards
Antonio Bryant: 4 targets, 1 Reception, 6 yards
Dwayne Bowe: 4 targets, 1 Reception, 11 yards.

Scheme is obviously important as is your pass rush. A lot of Tampa 2 schemes have the corner playing 7 yards off the receiver and has a saftey playing over the top, so obviously the corner he not only has help deep, but may not even have to guard the receiver deep since he'll pass him to the saftey (he's also got a linebacker helping him underneath). So it's way easier to guard a guy in a 10 yard by 10 yard sqare zone, then it is for a man to man corner who has to cover the guy for the entire field and may not get any saftey help or any linebacker help. Pass rush is also critical (obviously), so are your teamates. Some guys get "shutdown corner" status because no one throws on them, when in reality it is because the other corner is so bad, that the QB has so much sucess exploiting that matchup that he has no need to throw on the other corner.

I think the difference between Tampa 2 and a regular cover 2 is that you have a fast linebacker flying deep in the middle, thereby allowing the other two safties to stretch wide, so you're basically playing cover 3 (two safties and a linebacker covering three smaller deep zones as opposed to two safties covering two wider deep zones). That defense is vulnerable to a fast Tight end getting deep into the middle of the field, especially if the linebacker is held up by play action. But it's a killer on wide receivers trying to get deep- therefore it makes it easier for the corners, since they don't have much area to cover- compared to a man-to man corner. All the word "Cover" means is the number of defenders in the deep zones. Cover two means two deep defenders (usually two safties but you could have a corner bailing to cover the deep zones). Cover 3 means 3 deep defenders, Cover 1-means a single saftey, and "Quarters" means 4 guys deep, usually the 2 safties and two corners bailing.

Why is this list so old? 3 of these players are ancient. Let's see how they last the year

Favre picked on Harris most of the game on Monday night. Most of the 3rd down conversions were thrown Harris' way. Favre did not go to Woodson's side very much for the obvious reason that he respects him as being one of the best if not the best corners in the league.