Nickel corner revisited
Chris Brown
Posted July 11, 2010
With the nickel corner competition being addressed on the home page, I thought I?d toss in some observations from the spring camps.
Among those that made the most plays on passes through the course of the OTAs and minicamps of those listed in the nickel corner competition were Reggie Corner, Ellis Lankster and Ashton Youboty.
Now that?s not to say that Drayton Florence and Lydell Sargeant didn?t have their share of pass breakups too, they did. Florence?s game is clearly the most physical of the group and you need physical play inside.
The distance between the QB and the slot receiver is obviously shorter than with an outside WR, so getting a good jam or delaying the receiver from getting into his route is key inside. Florence excels in this area.
Youboty is the only other candidate in this group with a similar stature to Florence and he?s longer and lankier, which helps him knock passes away from receivers.
Corner, Lankster and Sargeant are all more compact type corners. They?re lightning quick, but if there?s a big WR in the slot channeling them to one side or another can be a task at times. Still their quickness affords them the ability to undercut receivers to make plays on the ball.
This nickel corner job is going to be one of the more competitive in camp, with a lot of capable candidates.