PFF Secret Superstar: Captain Munnerlyn

[fieryprophet]

https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2013/05/17/secret-superstar-captain-munnerlyn/

In 2011, Munnerlyn wasn’t ready to be a starting cornerback and it showed. He allowed a very high 1.47 yards per coverage snap and a QB rating against of 126.9. After the 2011 season that saw him get generally manhandled as a starting cornerback, he started 2012 backing up rookie fifth-round pick Josh Norman and covering the slot in sub-packages. A season-ending injury to Chris Gamble forced Munnerlyn back into a starting role. He played all but 16 snaps over the last 12 games and did not disappoint. His yards per coverage snap dropped to .99 and his NFL rating against to 76.6. Perhaps his biggest improvement was his play on the edge. In 2011, playing out on the boundary, he gave up a completion percentage of 67% and a yards per coverage snap of 1.54. In 2012, those figures dropped to a completion percentage of 53% and a yards per coverage snap of 1.00.

Last season, only 20 cornerbacks played at least 900 snaps while maintaining a positive grade for the season and Munnerlyn was one of them. It’s difficult to sustain quality play at the cornerback position over a 16-game season, and even more so against the passing games in the NFC South. Just ask guys like DeAngelo Hall, Nnamdi Asomugha, and Cortland Finnegan how hard playing cornerback in the NFL can be. All three ended up with grades worse than Munnerlyn and gave up far more yards. It’s safe to say that if you thought his ceiling was that of a backup after his dreadful 2011 campaign, it’s worth reconsidering your stance based on his performance in 2012.

[top dawg]

PFF showing Munnerlyn some love (even if it's nothing definitive, but more like food for thought). Never thought I'd see the day.

[Beast_3000]

I knew Captain played better but I didn't know he went from worst in the league to adequate starter. Makes me feel better about our season. The competition at cornerback between Munnerlyn the Josh brothers and Florence should allow us to have a decent secondary. Hopefully the pressure up front allows us to have some turnovers in the secondary.

[NCstoner420]

I don't think Captain is an elite corner that you leave on an island but with the right support he can be very good. 

[OchoNueve]

Secret Superstar... such an oxymoron,like Jumbo Shrimp... am i right?

[JawnyBlaze]

Interesting look at the Capt.  Hopefully he continues to be used properly to be effective like they analyzed him to be.

[BelgianPantherFan]

Our current secondary gets lots of hate these days...but I do think that some of them do realise, with our front 7 and the combined pass rush we will be able to implement, that they have a great opportunity to play a carreer year. Everybody on our secondary should be extremely focussed from week 1, hopefully that will make our defence a great unit.

[RelaxImaPro]

One of my favorite bone-headed plays last season involved the Captain when he laid a returner out before he ever even got the ball... can't remember what game it was, but it was a real 'WTF' moment.  I guess it's kind of funny now that the season is over and everything.

[Cary Kollins]

Captain Munnerlyn a secret superstar. I'm glad I'm not the only one that enjoys drinking before noon.

[rayzor]

He played all but 16 snaps over the last 12 games and did not disappoint. His yards per coverage snap dropped to .99 and his NFL rating against to 76.6. Perhaps his biggest improvement was his play on the edge. In 2011, playing out on the boundary, he gave up a completion percentage of 67% and a yards per coverage snap of 1.54. In 2012, those figures dropped to a completion percentage of 53% and a yards per coverage snap of 1.00.

Last season, only 20 cornerbacks played at least 900 snaps while maintaining a positive grade for the season and Munnerlyn was one of them.

 

wow.

 

all that talk about him just not being able to play on the outside kind of just flies out the window there.

 

we all know how good he is on the inside, but the boundary is where he was considered weak. i don't know about you, but i can't make a strong argument for the lack of success that receivers are having against him. wouldn't call him a shutdown CB, but a 53% comp. rate and one yard per coverage snap ain't bad at all....and that's where he's supposedly weakest.

 

a QB rating against of 76.6 ain't too shabby. i'll take it. i think florence will be solid once he gets back into the swing of things and thomas and norman seem like they are on the right path. add in the pass rush from hell and i think that we could have a top 5-10 D easily.

[Fox007]

If he was 6' tall he'd be a superstar.

I love the way he plays and he does the best he can, but against the bigger/more physical receivers he is limited at what he can do(and he gets screwed with penalties a lot).

[thefuzz]

Honestly, I think that he plays about as well as we can expect him to.

 

Always been a bit of a Captain homer.

[PantherFeez]

Thanks for the post fiery, really good stuff. Hey if Cap can play the outside and he's been a guy who needed time to develop, then i'm fine with him going forward.

 

Here's hoping for a decent back 4 to go with our beast front 7

[rayzor]

If he was 6' tall he'd be a superstar.

I love the way he plays and he does the best he can, but against the bigger/more physical receivers he is limited at what he can do(and he gets screwed with penalties a lot).

 

this is only an issue in very few occassions. how often do high jump balls where a WRs height advantage an issue?

 

i mean i guess you can point to roddy white jumping over haruki, but honestly the D should never have been put in that situation to begin with and a game should never come down to just one catch.

 

the vast majority of the time what is going to be needed is to make the QB second guess throwing it. you put pressure on the QB and make sure that the only window he has is just out of reach of the leaping ability of the DB and just barely within reach of the WR and he's probably going to be looking elsewhere. no QB is going to be able to hit that very often, esp. with the likes of CJ, hardy, alexander, star, short, and dwan breathing down his neck.

 

if we keep in nickel packages just the flooding of DBs and LBs controlling the field will be a massive hinderance to the QB. height won't play much of a factor.