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Caleb Farley: A Dangerous Temptation
BY CIAN FAHEY
@QBDataMine
It's hard to talk yourself into taking a cornerback in the top 10 of the draft nowadays.
Best case scenario, you draft the next Darrelle Revis. But Darrelle Revis in this version of the NFL doesn't have the same impact as Darrelle Revis 10 years ago. That Darrelle Revis was hugely valuable because he could shut down receivers on his own. That's tougher and tougher to do because of how passing games continue to evolve.
So even if you see a truly special talent at cornerback, you still have to really convince yourself to spend a high pick on him. In reality, the likelihood is you would need there to be weak options at other spots to convince yourself to take the cornerback. It's even easier to talk yourself into a great safety now than it is a great corner.
Caleb Farley is hoping to prove that theory wrong over the coming years.
Farley is the top cornerback in this year's draft. Another Virginia Tech defensive back, Farley is 6'2" and 207 lbs. He doesn't always look it on the field though, and that's a complement. Farley plays small when there's cause to play small and he plays big when there's cause to play big.
He combines fleet footwork, long speed and precision in his coverage assignments before showing off his size and ball skills at the catch point or when battling receivers in tight coverage. He has impressive length and can handle different assignments because of his versatile skill set and technique.
If you ascribe to the idea that cornerbacks are still valuable enough to go in the top ten of the draft, he'd be a consideration. Jeff Okudah went third overall last year. Farley is better than him. But Okudah's head coach also got fired.
So there's that.
If we start off with the Notre Dame game, this is his first highlight play of the game. The ball isn't thrown his way. The quarterback eventually runs around behind the line of scrimmage before throwing the ball away. Regardless of that, what Farley did was perfect.
He began the play in off coverage but importantly didn't take an extended drop from there. He took two steps back and stayed on his toes. That put him in position to break on the ball and cover any vertical route. Too often you see with young corners they will take the same drop from off coverage that they take when they're closer to the line of scrimmage.
That obviously just ends up giving the quarterback an easy completion underneath.
Farley is quick to transition and break on the receiver's curl route. The quarterback looked for him but pulled the ball back in when he saw Farley coming so quickly. The coaching staff obviously saw his aggressiveness too. They dialed up a play to take advantage of it immediately after.
Hook, line and sinker. He bought it. All you can do here is hold your hands up and say you lost focus on your assignment. The rolling pocket and the receiver breaking outisde convinced Farley that he was going to jump the route for the interception. It's important for his coach to emphasize the down-and-distance to him here.
There was no first down threat on the quick out route so there's no reason to bite on the short throw.
Farley doing this so early in the game was concerning. Immediately your thought is that he's too aggressive. That he's too inclined to chase interceptions. You want a cornerback who creates interceptions within the structure of the defence. A cornerback who chases turnovers at the expense of his assignment is a bad cornerback no matter how many turnovers he comes up with.
You'll never catch enough passes to offset the big plays you give up. But if we go back to that first play, Farley wasn't aggressive there. He was quick. He moved forward when he saw the receiver's curl route. It was perfectly timed.
So there was reason to believe this was a lapse in concentration rather than a reflection of his overall approach. And over the rest of the game, he proved that it was just a once-off error.
Technique is a word that's used a lot. It essentially just boils down to three things: How do you move your feet, how do you use your hands and how do you position yourself on the field. Cornerbacks need to be light on their feet without being overly active. They need to know what they can get away with in terms of contact with the receiver and they need to know how to find the ball in the air.
Farley's positioning consistently stands out. He's perfect in his zone drops, understanding depth and where to position himself relative to the routes being run and the coverage he's executing. You'll see him force quarterbacks to throw to other spots regularly.
This isn't a zone play, it's another man coverage play but it's perfect to capture his technique.
Farley is always in position to play the ball. He again begins the play in off coverage and doesn't overextend his backpedal from there. When the receiver turns, he comes forward again at the perfect time. But crucially, this time he has his eyes on the quarterback. This time he doesn't jump on the receiver.
Not only that, Farley settles right next to the receiver in position to break on the ball. The pass is never thrown so Farley has to stay active. When his receiver moves, Farley instantly looks away from the quarterback to focus on the reciever. He flips his hips and follows the receiver while maintaining an upfield position.
There is no opportunity for the receiver to turn up the sideline. He's forced to work backwards.
Even then, Farley nearly breaks up the pass. In fact, the only mistake he makes on this play is not looking for the ball when he comes forward. And that's such a minimal criticism because he's already done his job to 99% perfection by that stage. He'll make so many positive plays just by putting himself in that position at the next level.
Strong technique allows you to play fast but more importantly, it allows you to play controlled. It creates comfort in uncomfortable situations. Farley is alone outside on the wide side of the field here. He has a two-way go even though he's not covering the slot.
That means he's responsible for the receiver if he goes past his outside shoulder or if he breaks past his inside shoulder. Farley is always in position to play the vertical to the pylon and he even turns his hips in that direction after gaining ground initially.
Turning his hips like that should have opened opportuntiy for the receiver to get open but Farley is so quick and so controlled he is instantly back in position. Part of the reason that worked was his original starting point.
Farley didn't rush to try and take away the sideline. He established inside and stayed inside. He understood the value of the sideline and he understood he'd be able to squeeze the receiver over the sideline even if he wasn't on top of the route early in the play.
Revis was always the best cornerback in the league at this sort of movement. It was a terminator turn where his whole body flipped direction despite him seemingly not actually moving.
Nobody is on Revis' level but this was pretty impressive.
If we move to the Miami game, we can see something similar where Farley takes an inside position and dares the wide receiver to beat him deep. He opens his hips to the sideline but has the speed to push off inside and stay with the receiver despite him making a pretty good cut.
The receiver is probably open to catch the ball here but Farley will instantly take him down so the gain would be minimal.
His transition speed is top notch. But what happens when a receiver actually takes his invite to go down the sideline and gets a step on him?
On the first play against Florida State, Farley puts in a poor jam attempt. He stops his feet and uses his inside arm so it's easy for the receiver to get outside. He's on the defensive back's upfield shoulder and the defender can't look for the ball in the air. This is a good position for the receiver.
Farley is somewhat bailed out by the throw not leading the receiver away from him but he also deserves credit for his recovery speed. Surpassed that, once he closes to the receiver, he's very smart with his hand usage.
His hands are aggressive but not overly so. He doesn't push the receiver or grab his inside arm, he just does enough to close on top of him from where he can play the ball in the air without seeing it.
This is a textbook example of playing the receiver's hands when you can't see the ball.
It's a great play.
In a similar manner, we see Farley combine his balance and fleet footwork with his comfort not knowing where the ball is on this play. He only looks for the ball at the last second, when it lands in his stomach. He covered the receiver so well that he had to make no effort to make the interception.
It should be noted that the receiver's route here is one that would get him benched in the NFL. It's awful. But still, it wasn't easy for Farley to get into the position that he did. He had to be willing to let the receiver get deeper than him initially so as not to be on his back when the ball arrived.
Farley had six interceptions in college. A good number but far more important were the countless examples of his ball skills. He so easily finds the ball in different coverages against different types of receivers. On this play, he flips his hips and turns the wrong way while covering the post route but still has the awareness not to go through the back of the receiver at the catch point.
He plays over the receiver, allowing him to get to the ball first and making it impossible for the official to throw a flag against him.
For this interception in his own endzone, Farley wins in the route early so he's latched to the receiver's inside shoulder on a vertical route. What's really impressive here is how he fights to hold his position. We can see the receiver trying to slow him down so he can come back to the ball.
It's actually a really impressive play from the receiver because he recognized the flight of the ball early. Farley just doesn't give an inch. He's in control. He's the one determining who will have position on the ball when it arrives.
This is where we see Farley's frame and athleticism having a functional impact.
Like Richard Sherman, he's not going to be moved off his spot often. But maybe unlike Sherman, he's going to have flexible enough hips to move around the field and win in man coverage against all kinds of receivers. Sherman is a hall of fame player, deservedly so, but he also has clear limitations in certain scenarios.
Maybe Farley shows off more flaws against NFL receivers but it doesn't feel like he will. Cornerbacks take time to transition to the NFL normally. Farley should project to be a strong starter early in his career. He is so polished technically and so talented physically that success feels inevitable.
Farley probably makes every single team in the league better. But how much better is always going to be the question.
If you want a cornerback, you're not likely to find many better prospects over the years. If you want a cornerback to round out your defence and you're picking somewhere outside the top 10, you could be about to pick up great value.
BY CIAN FAHEY
@QBDataMine
It's hard to talk yourself into taking a cornerback in the top 10 of the draft nowadays.
Best case scenario, you draft the next Darrelle Revis. But Darrelle Revis in this version of the NFL doesn't have the same impact as Darrelle Revis 10 years ago. That Darrelle Revis was hugely valuable because he could shut down receivers on his own. That's tougher and tougher to do because of how passing games continue to evolve.
So even if you see a truly special talent at cornerback, you still have to really convince yourself to spend a high pick on him. In reality, the likelihood is you would need there to be weak options at other spots to convince yourself to take the cornerback. It's even easier to talk yourself into a great safety now than it is a great corner.
Caleb Farley is hoping to prove that theory wrong over the coming years.
Farley is the top cornerback in this year's draft. Another Virginia Tech defensive back, Farley is 6'2" and 207 lbs. He doesn't always look it on the field though, and that's a complement. Farley plays small when there's cause to play small and he plays big when there's cause to play big.
He combines fleet footwork, long speed and precision in his coverage assignments before showing off his size and ball skills at the catch point or when battling receivers in tight coverage. He has impressive length and can handle different assignments because of his versatile skill set and technique.
If you ascribe to the idea that cornerbacks are still valuable enough to go in the top ten of the draft, he'd be a consideration. Jeff Okudah went third overall last year. Farley is better than him. But Okudah's head coach also got fired.
So there's that.
If we start off with the Notre Dame game, this is his first highlight play of the game. The ball isn't thrown his way. The quarterback eventually runs around behind the line of scrimmage before throwing the ball away. Regardless of that, what Farley did was perfect.
He began the play in off coverage but importantly didn't take an extended drop from there. He took two steps back and stayed on his toes. That put him in position to break on the ball and cover any vertical route. Too often you see with young corners they will take the same drop from off coverage that they take when they're closer to the line of scrimmage.
That obviously just ends up giving the quarterback an easy completion underneath.
Farley is quick to transition and break on the receiver's curl route. The quarterback looked for him but pulled the ball back in when he saw Farley coming so quickly. The coaching staff obviously saw his aggressiveness too. They dialed up a play to take advantage of it immediately after.
Hook, line and sinker. He bought it. All you can do here is hold your hands up and say you lost focus on your assignment. The rolling pocket and the receiver breaking outisde convinced Farley that he was going to jump the route for the interception. It's important for his coach to emphasize the down-and-distance to him here.
There was no first down threat on the quick out route so there's no reason to bite on the short throw.
Farley doing this so early in the game was concerning. Immediately your thought is that he's too aggressive. That he's too inclined to chase interceptions. You want a cornerback who creates interceptions within the structure of the defence. A cornerback who chases turnovers at the expense of his assignment is a bad cornerback no matter how many turnovers he comes up with.
You'll never catch enough passes to offset the big plays you give up. But if we go back to that first play, Farley wasn't aggressive there. He was quick. He moved forward when he saw the receiver's curl route. It was perfectly timed.
So there was reason to believe this was a lapse in concentration rather than a reflection of his overall approach. And over the rest of the game, he proved that it was just a once-off error.
Technique is a word that's used a lot. It essentially just boils down to three things: How do you move your feet, how do you use your hands and how do you position yourself on the field. Cornerbacks need to be light on their feet without being overly active. They need to know what they can get away with in terms of contact with the receiver and they need to know how to find the ball in the air.
Farley's positioning consistently stands out. He's perfect in his zone drops, understanding depth and where to position himself relative to the routes being run and the coverage he's executing. You'll see him force quarterbacks to throw to other spots regularly.
This isn't a zone play, it's another man coverage play but it's perfect to capture his technique.
Farley is always in position to play the ball. He again begins the play in off coverage and doesn't overextend his backpedal from there. When the receiver turns, he comes forward again at the perfect time. But crucially, this time he has his eyes on the quarterback. This time he doesn't jump on the receiver.
Not only that, Farley settles right next to the receiver in position to break on the ball. The pass is never thrown so Farley has to stay active. When his receiver moves, Farley instantly looks away from the quarterback to focus on the reciever. He flips his hips and follows the receiver while maintaining an upfield position.
There is no opportunity for the receiver to turn up the sideline. He's forced to work backwards.
Even then, Farley nearly breaks up the pass. In fact, the only mistake he makes on this play is not looking for the ball when he comes forward. And that's such a minimal criticism because he's already done his job to 99% perfection by that stage. He'll make so many positive plays just by putting himself in that position at the next level.
Strong technique allows you to play fast but more importantly, it allows you to play controlled. It creates comfort in uncomfortable situations. Farley is alone outside on the wide side of the field here. He has a two-way go even though he's not covering the slot.
That means he's responsible for the receiver if he goes past his outside shoulder or if he breaks past his inside shoulder. Farley is always in position to play the vertical to the pylon and he even turns his hips in that direction after gaining ground initially.
Turning his hips like that should have opened opportuntiy for the receiver to get open but Farley is so quick and so controlled he is instantly back in position. Part of the reason that worked was his original starting point.
Farley didn't rush to try and take away the sideline. He established inside and stayed inside. He understood the value of the sideline and he understood he'd be able to squeeze the receiver over the sideline even if he wasn't on top of the route early in the play.
Revis was always the best cornerback in the league at this sort of movement. It was a terminator turn where his whole body flipped direction despite him seemingly not actually moving.
Nobody is on Revis' level but this was pretty impressive.
If we move to the Miami game, we can see something similar where Farley takes an inside position and dares the wide receiver to beat him deep. He opens his hips to the sideline but has the speed to push off inside and stay with the receiver despite him making a pretty good cut.
The receiver is probably open to catch the ball here but Farley will instantly take him down so the gain would be minimal.
His transition speed is top notch. But what happens when a receiver actually takes his invite to go down the sideline and gets a step on him?
On the first play against Florida State, Farley puts in a poor jam attempt. He stops his feet and uses his inside arm so it's easy for the receiver to get outside. He's on the defensive back's upfield shoulder and the defender can't look for the ball in the air. This is a good position for the receiver.
Farley is somewhat bailed out by the throw not leading the receiver away from him but he also deserves credit for his recovery speed. Surpassed that, once he closes to the receiver, he's very smart with his hand usage.
His hands are aggressive but not overly so. He doesn't push the receiver or grab his inside arm, he just does enough to close on top of him from where he can play the ball in the air without seeing it.
This is a textbook example of playing the receiver's hands when you can't see the ball.
It's a great play.
In a similar manner, we see Farley combine his balance and fleet footwork with his comfort not knowing where the ball is on this play. He only looks for the ball at the last second, when it lands in his stomach. He covered the receiver so well that he had to make no effort to make the interception.
It should be noted that the receiver's route here is one that would get him benched in the NFL. It's awful. But still, it wasn't easy for Farley to get into the position that he did. He had to be willing to let the receiver get deeper than him initially so as not to be on his back when the ball arrived.
Farley had six interceptions in college. A good number but far more important were the countless examples of his ball skills. He so easily finds the ball in different coverages against different types of receivers. On this play, he flips his hips and turns the wrong way while covering the post route but still has the awareness not to go through the back of the receiver at the catch point.
He plays over the receiver, allowing him to get to the ball first and making it impossible for the official to throw a flag against him.
For this interception in his own endzone, Farley wins in the route early so he's latched to the receiver's inside shoulder on a vertical route. What's really impressive here is how he fights to hold his position. We can see the receiver trying to slow him down so he can come back to the ball.
It's actually a really impressive play from the receiver because he recognized the flight of the ball early. Farley just doesn't give an inch. He's in control. He's the one determining who will have position on the ball when it arrives.
This is where we see Farley's frame and athleticism having a functional impact.
Like Richard Sherman, he's not going to be moved off his spot often. But maybe unlike Sherman, he's going to have flexible enough hips to move around the field and win in man coverage against all kinds of receivers. Sherman is a hall of fame player, deservedly so, but he also has clear limitations in certain scenarios.
Maybe Farley shows off more flaws against NFL receivers but it doesn't feel like he will. Cornerbacks take time to transition to the NFL normally. Farley should project to be a strong starter early in his career. He is so polished technically and so talented physically that success feels inevitable.
Farley probably makes every single team in the league better. But how much better is always going to be the question.
If you want a cornerback, you're not likely to find many better prospects over the years. If you want a cornerback to round out your defence and you're picking somewhere outside the top 10, you could be about to pick up great value.
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