The NFL is truly a circus at times. Guys will be released one day and find themselves on another team possibly on the same day, week or month. That’s the business side of things for you. The cornerback position. Next, to the quarterbacks and wide receivers list, this may be one of the most popular topics that people bring up along with the best defensive player in the league. Joe Haden has been mentioned as an elite corner for years on a struggling Cleveland Browns team. Today, he was released and this morning when I was asked about him, I said there were one of four teams that could truly benefit from his services and those four were the Carolina Panthers, Dallas Cowboys, Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers. One of those four got him! He signed a three-year/$27 million deal with the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Cleveland Browns biggest rival.
He’s a good corner and I don’t think people have really known that because of playing in Cleveland for all these years. The one word I can use to describe Joe Haden because he lines up against the opposition’s top receiver week in and week out and he holds his own. I’ve seen him make life extremely difficult for A.J. Green who’s become one of the best wide receivers in the league today. The first thing you notice about Haden’s game is his ability to jam the receiver at the line of scrimmage. He comes off as a physical corner and when he’s defending these receivers, he does it in pure isolation coverage which is one on one without that safety help over the top so it’s almost as if he has his own island out there. He can sit back and read routes perfectly and he’s a game changer. If the ball is thrown in his direction, he’ll make a play on it whether it’s a knockdown or an interception and he can score. He plays on the defensive side of the ball with an offensive mindset without question.
For years, I’ve stated that the Pittsburgh Steelers have needed a true number one cornerback and they finally have one. He’s still in the same division, just on another team.
