Week 8 Advanced Coverage Grade Report: Best defenders in PFF's advanced coverage grade

• D.J. Reed stays on top: The New York Jets cornerback has earned the highest advanced coverage grade in the league through seven weeks.

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Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

It’s never too early to start preparing for next season, and for PFF, that means looking at ways to improve PFF Premium Stats.

One exciting option is to introduce more data. To find out which stats resonate most with you, we’ll be offering select data outside of Premium Stats to see what grabs your interest.

Over recent weeks, we have presented a metric called “Advanced Coverage Grade,” which adds even more context to PFF's traditional coverage grade.

What is Advanced Coverage Grade?

Advanced coverage grade uses machine learning to map the separation allowed on a play to the expected PFF coverage grade the player would have earned had they been targeted. This system also factors in the difficulty of the assignment and situation when making that assessment.

The variables considered for assignment and situation include play position, player assignment within coverage, overall coverage scheme, safety rotation, press coverage, route depth and play action.

Going old school, this is a +/- grading system, though 0 doesn't necessarily represent expected or average results.

Advanced coverage grade through Week 7 of the 2024 NFL season (min. 25 snaps)

Rank	Last-week rank	Player	Team	Adv. Cov. Grade	Grade percentile
1	1	D.J. Reed	New York Jets	5.566	98.52%
2	2	Marlon Humphrey	Baltimore Ravens	4.984	97.32%
3	3	Christian Benford	Buffalo Bills	4.729	96.62%
4	4	Trent McDuffie	Kansas City Chiefs	4.279	95.30%
5	18	Ja'Quan McMillian	Denver Broncos	3.842	93.18%
6	17	Kenny Moore II	Indianapolis Colts	3.832	93.09%
7	10	Sauce Gardner	New York Jets	3.662	92.02%
8	6	Pat Surtain II	Denver Broncos	3.586	91.35%
9	8	Riley Moss	Denver Broncos	3.56	91.10%
10	24	Andru Phillips	New York Giants	3.546	91.03%
11	7	Jourdan Lewis	Dallas Cowboys	3.545	91.01%
12	15	Noah Igbinoghene	Washington Commanders	3.52	90.90%
13	13	Garrett Williams	Arizona Cardinals	3.519	90.88%
14	9	Jaylon Johnson	Chicago Bears	3.406	90.00%
15	25	Jalen Pitre	Houston Texans	3.384	89.85%
16	5	Zyon McCollum	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	3.203	88.93%
17	33	Denzel Ward	Cleveland Browns	3.163	88.64%
18	28	Jarrian Jones	Jacksonville Jaguars	3.067	87.84%
19	21	Jalen Ramsey	Miami Dolphins	3.029	87.61%
20	11	Jarvis Brownlee Jr.	Tennessee Titans	3.01	87.50%
21	37	Jaylen Watson	Kansas City Chiefs	3.007	87.48%
22	19	Kristian Fulton	Los Angeles Chargers	2.987	87.25%
23	22	Tykee Smith	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	2.906	86.45%
24	20	Tariq Woolen	Seattle Seahawks	2.85	85.89%
25	16	Jamel Dean	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	2.85	85.87%
26	44	Jaylon Jones	Indianapolis Colts	2.743	84.82%
27	35	Rasul Douglas	Buffalo Bills	2.694	84.08%
28	36	Jaycee Horn	Carolina Panthers	2.637	83.59%
29	40	Jonathan Jones	New England Patriots	2.614	83.34%
30	38	Mike Hilton	Cincinnati Bengals	2.513	82.27%
31	23	Isaac Yiadom	San Francisco 49ers	2.5	82.04%
32	39	Marshon Lattimore	New Orleans Saints	2.49	81.95%
33	12	Derek Stingley Jr.	Houston Texans	2.474	81.78%
34	41	Darius Slay	Philadelphia Eagles	2.418	80.99%
35	29	Montaric Brown	Jacksonville Jaguars	2.384	80.68%
36	42	Deommodore Lenoir	San Francisco 49ers	2.377	80.52%
37	30	Quinyon Mitchell	Philadelphia Eagles	2.372	80.43%
38	55	Joey Porter Jr.	Pittsburgh Steelers	2.356	80.30%
39	45	Nate Hobbs	Las Vegas Raiders	2.333	80.03%
40	14	Carlton Davis III	Detroit Lions	2.329	79.99%
41	26	Samuel Womack III	Indianapolis Colts	2.197	78.64%
42	67	DJ Turner II	Cincinnati Bengals	2.171	78.29%
43	32	Jaire Alexander	Green Bay Packers	2.062	76.95%
44	31	Amik Robertson	Detroit Lions	2.004	76.16%
45	48	Marcus Jones	New England Patriots	1.984	75.83%
46	54	Mike Hughes	Atlanta Falcons	1.943	75.11%
47	46	Christian Gonzalez	New England Patriots	1.888	74.40%
48	49	Roger McCreary	Tennessee Titans	1.878	74.17%
49	58	Mike Sainristil	Washington Commanders	1.868	73.93%
50	34	Mike Jackson	Carolina Panthers	1.862	73.84%
51	27	Brandon Stephens	Baltimore Ravens	1.84	73.46%
52	50	Troy Hill	Carolina Panthers	1.795	72.92%
53	57	Devon Witherspoon	Seattle Seahawks	1.735	72.32%
54	47	Kool-Aid McKinstry	New Orleans Saints	1.706	71.98%
55	70	Beanie Bishop Jr.	Pittsburgh Steelers	1.697	71.87%
56	53	Avonte Maddox	Philadelphia Eagles	1.662	71.47%
57	43	Deonte Banks	New York Giants	1.649	71.33%
58	#N/A	Isaiah Oliver	New York Jets	1.637	71.11%
59	#N/A	Levi Wallace	Denver Broncos	1.606	70.84%
60	56	Jack Jones	Las Vegas Raiders	1.536	69.90%
61	79	Charvarius Ward	San Francisco 49ers	1.533	69.83%
62	61	Keisean Nixon	Green Bay Packers	1.517	69.68%
63	59	Kyler Gordon	Chicago Bears	1.462	68.83%
64	#N/A	Tarheeb Still	Los Angeles Chargers	1.416	68.25%
65	81	Dee Alford	Atlanta Falcons	1.403	68.07%
66	63	Byron Murphy Jr.	Minnesota Vikings	1.378	67.75%
67	#N/A	Brandin Echols	New York Jets	1.354	67.46%
68	73	Starling Thomas V	Arizona Cardinals	1.316	66.84%
69	62	Dax Hill	Cincinnati Bengals	1.308	66.61%
70	66	Shaquill Griffin	Minnesota Vikings	1.265	66.14%
71	65	Ronald Darby	Jacksonville Jaguars	1.183	64.71%
72	69	Jakorian Bennett	Las Vegas Raiders	1.175	64.65%
73	60	Stephon Gilmore	Minnesota Vikings	1.148	64.33%
74	51	Alontae Taylor	New Orleans Saints	1.14	64.24%
75	72	Benjamin St-Juste	Washington Commanders	1.137	64.18%
76	52	Donte Jackson	Pittsburgh Steelers	1.122	63.93%
77	64	Tre'Davious White	Los Angeles Rams	1.116	63.89%
78	68	Paulson Adebo	New Orleans Saints	1.116	63.86%
79	83	Kader Kohou	Miami Dolphins	1.113	63.71%
80	76	Tre Brown	Seattle Seahawks	1.001	62.39%
81	#N/A	Renardo Green	San Francisco 49ers	0.963	61.94%
82	71	A.J. Terrell	Atlanta Falcons	0.937	61.43%
83	75	Cor'Dale Flott	New York Giants	0.887	60.53%
84	74	Kamari Lassiter	Houston Texans	0.884	60.47%
85	84	Terrion Arnold	Detroit Lions	0.842	60.00%
86	82	Greg Newsome II	Cleveland Browns	0.675	57.58%
87	91	Cobie Durant	Los Angeles Rams	0.421	54.47%
88	93	Nate Wiggins	Baltimore Ravens	0.322	53.20%
89	77	Kendall Fuller	Miami Dolphins	0.299	52.86%
90	86	Trevon Diggs	Dallas Cowboys	0.085	47.79%
91	87	Tyrique Stevenson	Chicago Bears	0.071	46.51%
92	85	Asante Samuel Jr.	Los Angeles Chargers	0.051	44.21%
93	88	Sean Murphy-Bunting	Arizona Cardinals	-0.288	5.37%
94	90	Eric Stokes	Green Bay Packers	-0.352	5.01%
95	92	Cam Taylor-Britt	Cincinnati Bengals	-0.456	4.18%
96	#N/A	Max Melton	Arizona Cardinals	-0.567	3.56%
97	94	L'Jarius Sneed	Tennessee Titans	-0.78	2.66%
98	95	Martin Emerson Jr.	Cleveland Browns	-1.262	1.25%