Week 9 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 eight 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 8 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	5.3188	98.0%
2	3	Christian Benford	Buffalo Bills	4.8500	96.7%
3	2	Marlon Humphrey	Baltimore Ravens	4.8441	96.7%
4	4	Trent McDuffie	Kansas City Chiefs	4.6928	96.4%
5	12	Noah Igbinoghene	Washington Commanders	4.1581	94.5%
6	7	Sauce Gardner	New York Jets	4.1099	94.4%
7	5	Ja'Quan McMillian	Denver Broncos	4.0264	94.0%
8	8	Pat Surtain II	Denver Broncos	3.9623	93.6%
9	14	Jaylon Johnson	Chicago Bears	3.7875	92.3%
10	13	Garrett Williams	Arizona Cardinals	3.7432	92.0%
11	24	Tariq Woolen	Seattle Seahawks	3.6978	91.6%
12	16	Zyon McCollum	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	3.6291	91.1%
13	26	Jaylon Jones	Indianapolis Colts	3.6287	91.1%
14	15	Jalen Pitre	Houston Texans	3.6080	91.0%
15	11	Jourdan Lewis	Dallas Cowboys	3.5300	90.3%
16	6	Kenny Moore II	Indianapolis Colts	3.5223	90.3%
17	18	Jarrian Jones	Jacksonville Jaguars	3.4374	89.8%
18	9	Riley Moss	Denver Broncos	3.3741	89.3%
19	27	Rasul Douglas	Buffalo Bills	3.1173	87.9%
20	17	Denzel Ward	Cleveland Browns	3.1142	87.8%
21	21	Jaylen Watson	Kansas City Chiefs	3.0433	87.0%
22	10	Andru Phillips	New York Giants	3.0247	86.9%
23	19	Jalen Ramsey	Miami Dolphins	2.9753	86.5%
24	22	Kristian Fulton	Los Angeles Chargers	2.9685	86.4%
25	25	Jamel Dean	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	2.9545	86.3%
26	40	Carlton Davis III	Detroit Lions	2.9425	86.2%
27	28	Jaycee Horn	Carolina Panthers	2.9332	86.1%
28	29	Jonathan Jones	New England Patriots	2.8723	85.4%
29	23	Tykee Smith	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	2.7831	84.4%
30	30	Mike Hilton	Cincinnati Bengals	2.7667	84.3%
31	43	Jaire Alexander	Green Bay Packers	2.7598	84.2%
32	34	Darius Slay	Philadelphia Eagles	2.7258	83.9%
33	32	Marshon Lattimore	New Orleans Saints	2.7159	83.8%
34	38	Joey Porter Jr.	Pittsburgh Steelers	2.6947	83.5%
35	31	Isaac Yiadom	San Francisco 49ers	2.6661	83.2%
36	20	Jarvis Brownlee Jr.	Tennessee Titans	2.6621	83.2%
37	37	Quinyon Mitchell	Philadelphia Eagles	2.6097	82.6%
38	36	Deommodore Lenoir	San Francisco 49ers	2.5874	82.3%
39	39	Nate Hobbs	Las Vegas Raiders	2.5018	81.5%
40	42	DJ Turner II	Cincinnati Bengals	2.4425	81.0%
41	44	Amik Robertson	Detroit Lions	2.3536	79.8%
42	33	Derek Stingley Jr.	Houston Texans	2.3085	79.3%
43	47	Christian Gonzalez	New England Patriots	2.2493	78.4%
44	35	Montaric Brown	Jacksonville Jaguars	2.2213	77.9%
45	81	Renardo Green	San Francisco 49ers	2.1525	77.2%
46	50	Mike Jackson	Carolina Panthers	2.0748	76.0%
47	46	Mike Hughes	Atlanta Falcons	2.0022	75.2%
48	45	Marcus Jones	New England Patriots	1.9687	74.8%
49	53	Devon Witherspoon	Seattle Seahawks	1.9047	73.7%
50	54	Kool-Aid McKinstry	New Orleans Saints	1.8099	72.7%
51	49	Mike Sainristil	Washington Commanders	1.7886	72.4%
52	66	Byron Murphy Jr.	Minnesota Vikings	1.7824	72.4%
53	52	Troy Hill	Carolina Panthers	1.7782	72.3%
54	64	Tarheeb Still	Los Angeles Chargers	1.7742	72.2%
55	61	Charvarius Ward	San Francisco 49ers	1.7542	72.0%
56	48	Roger McCreary	Tennessee Titans	1.7494	72.0%
57	51	Brandon Stephens	Baltimore Ravens	1.6768	71.0%
58	82	A.J. Terrell	Atlanta Falcons	1.6720	70.9%
59	55	Beanie Bishop Jr.	Pittsburgh Steelers	1.6668	70.9%
60	56	Avonte Maddox	Philadelphia Eagles	1.6591	70.8%
61	41	Samuel Womack III	Indianapolis Colts	1.6325	70.5%
62	57	Deonte Banks	New York Giants	1.6307	70.4%
63	84	Kamari Lassiter	Houston Texans	1.5481	69.3%
64	60	Jack Jones	Las Vegas Raiders	1.5361	69.2%
65	71	Ronald Darby	Jacksonville Jaguars	1.4771	68.5%
66	70	Shaquill Griffin	Minnesota Vikings	1.4132	67.6%
67	76	Donte Jackson	Pittsburgh Steelers	1.4128	67.6%
68	75	Benjamin St-Juste	Washington Commanders	1.3509	66.7%
69	77	Tre'Davious White	Los Angeles Rams	1.3380	66.5%
70	65	Dee Alford	Atlanta Falcons	1.3249	66.3%
71	69	Dax Hill	Cincinnati Bengals	1.3228	66.3%
72	72	Jakorian Bennett	Las Vegas Raiders	1.3198	66.2%
73	63	Kyler Gordon	Chicago Bears	1.3182	66.2%
74	78	Paulson Adebo	New Orleans Saints	1.3065	66.1%
75	74	Alontae Taylor	New Orleans Saints	1.2972	65.8%
76	62	Keisean Nixon	Green Bay Packers	1.2905	65.7%
77	79	Kader Kohou	Miami Dolphins	1.1521	63.8%
78	68	Starling Thomas V	Arizona Cardinals	1.1192	63.4%
79	89	Kendall Fuller	Miami Dolphins	1.1016	63.2%
80	85	Terrion Arnold	Detroit Lions	1.0972	63.2%
81	83	Cor'Dale Flott	New York Giants	1.0649	62.8%
82	80	Tre Brown	Seattle Seahawks	1.0259	62.1%
83	#N/A	Cam Hart	Los Angeles Chargers	0.9628	61.2%
84	73	Stephon Gilmore	Minnesota Vikings	0.8988	60.3%
85	88	Nate Wiggins	Baltimore Ravens	0.5383	55.4%
86	87	Cobie Durant	Los Angeles Rams	0.3643	53.2%
87	92	Asante Samuel Jr.	Los Angeles Chargers	0.0956	47.9%
88	90	Trevon Diggs	Dallas Cowboys	0.0138	33.2%
89	95	Cam Taylor-Britt	Cincinnati Bengals	0.0080	29.8%
90	86	Greg Newsome II	Cleveland Browns	-0.0410	14.3%
91	91	Tyrique Stevenson	Chicago Bears	-0.0918	9.1%
92	94	Eric Stokes	Green Bay Packers	-0.1936	6.1%
93	93	Sean Murphy-Bunting	Arizona Cardinals	-0.2555	5.3%
94	96	Max Melton	Arizona Cardinals	-0.2965	5.0%
95	97	L'Jarius Sneed	Tennessee Titans	-0.7967	2.5%
96	98	Martin Emerson Jr.	Cleveland Browns	-1.3379	1.1%