Asante Samuel has his problems, we all know them. But he does do one thing really well, cover receivers. This is something that started before the 2010 season. Asante always had this reputation as a "gambler" who sells out for picks, but gets burned because he jumps routes too often. But over the past 2.5 years at least, he's been shutting WRs down. In 2010, he ranked as one of the best cover corners charted by PFF and was also rated amongst the best this season.
- When targeting Samuel this season, QBs had 52.4 rating, which is lowest of any corner other than Darrelle Revis.
- QBs completed just 47.5% of throws at Asante, the 7th best mark in the league for a corner.
In all likelihood, this was Asante's last season as Eagle. And while we certainly won't miss his "tackling," he has been one of the best cover corners in the leauge over the last two seasons and at least that element of his game will be missed.
On another note, do you know who is terrible? Aaron Ross of the New York Giants. Opposing QBs completed 67.9% of passes thrown his way, 6th worst in the leauge. He gave up 811 yards, the 9th worst mark in the league (Tramon Williams of the Packers was the worst with 1034 yards) and opposing QBs had a rating of 102.8 when throwing his way, 10th worst in the NFL.