To play cornerback in the NFL, you have to have a lot of confidence. The best cornerbacks are often left on an island in coverage perhaps against the opposition’s best receiver with the sole challenge of making sure he doesn’t get the ball.
Typically, the best corners in the game are the ones with the confidence to say they want the ball thrown their way, even if they’re lacking safety help over the top or they’re charged with trying to slow one of the game’s best receivers.
Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis has shown during his time in the NFL that he’s certainly not short on talent and unsurprisingly, he’s not short on confidence either.
Revis was asked on Wednesday if he thought he was the best corner in the league and his answer was an honest one to say the least.
“Yeah, I believe so,” Revis said on a conference call with reporters. “Not saying it out of cockiness or anything, I’m a humble guy but I work hard. This has been my dream – to be the best, looking up to guys like Deion Sanders and Darrell Green and Mel Blount. This is where my life is at right now, my situation. I’m just trying to do it the best way I can.”
Revis’ assertions aside, there are others who could make a claim that they are the game’s best shutdown corners.
Philadelphia’s Nnamdi Asomugha is so dominant at times that quarterbacks won’t even look his way when scanning the field and making their reads. Cleveland’s Joe Haden, in just his second year, is quickly becoming one of the game’s best young ballhawks. And in Green Bay and Denver respectively, Charles Woodson and Champ Bailey are still proving they can get it done.
Can any of those corners make a challenge to Revis’ claim?