Vic Fangio should convince John Elway to reunite him with one of his former cornerbacks, Prince Amukamara, following his release from the Bears on Friday.
Chris Harris Jr. is going to leave, and the Broncos could also potentially lose two more cornerbacks from an already shallow cornerback room. Denver will have to add pieces to that defensive backfield this offseason and Amukamara could be a perfect solution.
For starters, Amukamara is the best value of the options available. Spotrac.com estimates Harris’ market value to be $11 million annually, but it wouldn’t be surprising if he reached $12 or even $13 million. Darius Slay, another name tied to the Broncos, is on a contract worth more than $13 million in 2020 and he would also cost at least a Day Two pick via trade. This makes Slay arguably the priciest player, coming off arguably the worst season of the bunch.
Amukamara, on the other hand, has never had a contract exceed an annual value of $9 million, and at age 30, it won’t happen now. It’s more likely he fetches a contract ranging between $5 and $8 million per year.
So, because he’s a much cheaper option, he must be a much worse option, right? Not necessarily.
All three players are either 29 or 30, played at least 850 snaps in 2019, and earned an overall grade from Pro Football Focus between 55 and 70 for last season’s efforts.
Of those three players, Amukamara earned the second-highest overall grade (68.2), trailing Harris (69.9), but earned the highest coverage grade comfortably (70.5 to Harris’ 66.8 and Slay’s 56.9). Amukamara was targeted the least, was penalized the least and allowed the fewest receiving yards and touchdowns, despite playing a comparable number of snaps to Harris and Slay. Amukamara also allowed the second-lowest passer rating and completion percentage of the group when targeted, trailing Slay in both categories.
You can believe that Slay or Harris are better players than Amukamara, but it’s hard to argue that the three players aren’t incredibly comparable with one being much cheaper than the other two.
Not only is Amukamara the best value based on last year, but he could be an even better value when you consider he had the best years of his career under Fangio.
According to PFF, in 2017 he earned the highest overall grade (73.3) and coverage grade (71.5) he had earned so far in his career. He also had allowed the second-lowest reception percentage, the fewest yards and touchdowns, and third-worst passer rating when targeted of his career up until that point.
Then, in 2018, Amukamara set new career high-water marks for overall grade (81.0), coverage grade (77.1) run-defense grade (90.5) and interceptions. He also held opponents to a lower passer rating, broke up more passes and allowed fewer yards per reception than he did the year before.
However, his numbers dipped in 2019 following Fangio’s departure. Compare that to Harris who had the worst season of his career in terms of overall grade (69.9), coverage grade (66.8), yards per reception allowed, passer rating allowed, longest reception allowed and interceptions. It was also the second-worst season of his career in terms of yards allowed and reception percentage allowed.
There’s no reason why the Broncos shouldn’t target Amukamara immediately who is a better value than Slay and Harris, and the best scheme fit of the bunch.
