• D.J. Reed is the highest-graded cornerback in the NFL: Though he’s “struggled” by his own high standards over the past two games, allowing eight catches for 93 yards and five first downs compared to just six catches for 42 yards and three first downs in the first four games, those are still solid numbers.

• Marlon Humphrey is back to his best: Humphrey missed the Ravens’ Week 8 game against the Browns, and his absence was felt. His 87.3 grade leads the league, and he ranks third in PFF’s Advanced Coverage Grade, placing him in the 96th percentile.

• Unlock your edge with a PFF+ subscription: Get full access to all our in-season fantasy tools, including weekly rankings, WR/CB matchup charts, weekly projections, the Start-Sit Optimizer and more. Sign up now!

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

If quarterback is the most important position on the football field, then limiting the effectiveness of that player is the most important thing a defense can do. A team can do 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 every NFL game is graded and reviewed, PFF will check in on the top cornerbacks of the 2024 season.

Last year, these rankings combined PFF coverage grades with our Successful Coverage Over Expected (SCOE) metric, which measures how well each coverage defender performed on non-targeted coverage snaps. We grade every coverage defender’s ability to prevent separation, whether they are targeted on the play or not.

These rankings will utilize that same data this year but with play-level normalization and expectation adjustments. Matching up with a receiver is more difficult than covering running back, and playing man coverage is typically more difficult than matching in a zone. 

Here are the top 32 cornerbacks for the 2024 season heading into Week 9.

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