Inside The Bills

CB Florence ranks among 10 best

The number crunchers at Football Outsiders have been digging deep inside the numbers for cornerbacks and Drayton Florence was among the league’s best at the position when it came to two specific categories.

Florence, who stepped in for an injured and eventually I-R’d Leodis McKelvin to start the last 12 games, was remarkably effective in keeping big plays to a minimum and surrendering few yards after catches were made against him. Football Outsiders charted the players most successful in the league in terms of yardage surrendered on average in two separate studies. 

Florence ranked seventh best in the league among cornerbacks in yards allowed per pass with a 5.7 yard average. His success rate of 62% ranked eighth. For comparison the top ranking corner in both categories, NY Jets’ Pro Bowler Darrelle Revis, had a 3.9 yard allowed average per pass and a success rate of 72%. Below is the explanation of success rate by Football Outsiders as well as the top 10 list.

Success Rate, to remind everyone, is the percentage of passes that don’t manage to get at least 45 percent of needed yards on first down, 60 percent of needed yards on second down, or 100 percent of needed yards on third down.

Top 10 Cornerbacks in Success Rate, 2009
1. D.Revis  NYJ              
2. J.Greer  NO               
3. L.Sheppard  NYJ     
4. D. Rodgers-Cromartie ARI  
5. L.Hall  CIN              
6. S.Brown  PHI          
7. D.Lowery  NYJ        
8. D.Florence  BUF  
9. T.Brown  SF              
10. L.Bodden  NE