Broncos CB Patrick Surtain II behind rival defender in recent 2024 rankings

PFF recently released its list of the top 32 cornerbacks in the NFL heading into the 2024 season. Not only is Patrick Surtain II of the Denver Broncos in the No. 4 spot, but he's behind Trent McDuffie of the rival Kansas City Chiefs, who wound up with the No. 2 ranking.

Sauce Gardner of the New York Jets is PFF's No. 1-ranked corner on the list, and that's not much of a surprise. Many consider Surtain to currently be the second-best cornerback in the league behind Gardner, so the fact that the Broncos defensive back wasn't given the No. 2 spot is a bit surprising.

However, if one takes a closer look at how Surtain and McDuffie both performed in 2023, it's a little easier to understand how PFF determined its rankings.

Last season, Surtain finished with the 42nd-best defensive grade from PFF in the NFL out of 127 qualifying corners. Compare this to McDuffie, who earned the fourth-best defensive grade from PFF among qualifying cornerbacks in 2023, and the list makes a little more sense.

But at the same time, an argument for Surtain as the better corner between the two can be made when one compares each of their actual statistics from last season.

In 17 games with Denver in 2023, Surtain finished with 69 tackles, 12 pass breakups and one interception, in addition to allowing his coverage to catch only 59.3 percent of their targets and holding opposing quarterbacks to a passer rating of 88.2 when throwing in his direction.

Since he lined up in the slot during the majority of his time on the field last season, McDuffie's stats are a little different than his counterpart in Denver.

In his 16 games for the Chiefs in 2023, he accumulated 80 tackles (three for a loss), seven pass breakups and five forced fumbles. However, McDuffie allowed a higher completion rate (65.8 percent) and a higher passer rating (94.4) to opposing quarterbacks than Surtain did last season.

So, there is evidence that can be used for both sides when arguing about whether McDuffie or Surtain deserves to be ranked higher on PFF's list of the top cornerbacks heading into next season.

With both players already regarded as some of the best at their position, what truly determines who the better corner is just comes down to personal opinion. 

But with McDuffie and Surtain both still under 25 years old heading into next season, the debates about which cornerback is better than the other are likely going to continue for at least the next handful of years.