Dolphins: Grimes a shutdown cornerback?

Miami Dolphins cornerback Brent Grimes was recently touted as an early All-Pro candidate by columnist Andy Cohen. We’ve been high on Grimes’ production in previous years, we’re not seeing him at quite that same level this season. 

Grimes earned a on our 2013 All-Pro Team on the back of a +15.3 coverage grade, good for third place among CBs. Quarterbacks had only a 66.3 QB rating throwing to his coverage and he nabbed four interceptions while allowing zero touchdowns.

This season, Grimes is still an INT machine, leading the NFL in interceptions with five but his passes-defensed numbers are down significantly – recording only one after a total of 14 last year. He’s also already allowed three touchdowns.  These have been the primary factors for a dip in his coverage grade (+4.8) and his ranking dropping to 15^th.

None of this is to suggest Grimes is playing poorly by any means. He still has the ability to be a dominant force in the secondary as evidenced by his jaw-dropping play against the Detroit Lions in Week 10.

If he continues to pull in INTs he’ll likely get the nod at All-Pro, but INTs aren’t the only measure of elite CB play and at this point our evaluations and advanced coverage stats suggest that others would be more worthy.