Broncos’ Pat Surtain II ranked alarmingly low in PFF top 50 rankings

Pat Surtain II established himself as the best defensive player in the NFL in 2024. Him winning the Defensive Player of the Year Award shut the door on any debate in that department, and also showed that he’s one of the best players in the league, offense or defense. While various coaches, scouts and executives believe that Surtain is the best cornerback in the league heading into the 2025 season, others had differing opinions.

However, Pro Football Focus had a completely different idea in their ranking of the top 50 players in the NFL, and the disrespect for the Broncos cornerback is loud and clear. Surtain was the only Bronco on the list, and was slotted in at No. 27, behind another corner in Sauce Gardner, Fred Warner and Aidan Hutchinson, who is coming off a gruesome leg injury.

Despite winning DPOY just over seven months ago, there are nine defensive players ahead of Surtain on the list. Something doesn’t quite add up there. The rankings highlighted that he is a three-time Pro Bowler, a two-time First-Team All-Pro nominee and a DPOY, along with the fact that he’s completed the difficult task of sustaining success at the cornerback position.

But still no explanation for why he was so much lower than his defensive peers.

The explanation behind Gardner being ranked at No. 23 was his 2.10 wins above replacement and 91.9 coverage grade since 2022, both which lead all cornerbacks. They also admitted that his interception totals aren’t eye-popping, and he could become better with a more aggressive defensive coordinator in Aaron Glenn.

Ranking someone who has more to prove over someone who has proven their talent is certainly a choice.

Since 2022, Gardner’s first year in the league, Surtain has seven interceptions while Gardner has three. Gardner has 41 pass deflections as opposed to Surtain’s 33.  Gardner has seven more tackles than Surtain, but tackles are not something that cornerbacks should be judged on, because the less tackles a corner has means that opposing quarterbacks are throwing the ball their way less often.

This is nothing against Gardner, he one of the best cornerbacks in the league behind Surtain. It’s disrespectful to rank Surtain four spots below him after how the 2024 season panned out, but it should just be more fuel to the fire for Surtain to keep working on his craft and trying to bring home another DPOY trophy.

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