Let’s Referee an NFL Twitter Beef!

Sorry, Asante Samuel: Darrelle Revis (and Sauce Gardner) aren’t overrated by playing in New York.

Everyone loves a good sports Twitter beef, and this week’s version came courtesy of NFL cornerbacks past and present.

The tension started Tuesday when former New England Patriot Asante Samuel Sr. took a shot at current New York Jet Sauce Gardner, who was listed as the league’s second-best CB in a poll of executives, players, scouts and coaches. 

“The New York media will take your career to another level,” Samuel tweeted in response to the ranking. The implication that Gardner is overrated by playing in New York didn’t very sit well with the NFL's Defensive Rookie of the Year, who quickly clapped back — and then the fireworks really started when former Jets All-Pro Darrelle Revis chimed in.

Things escalated from there between the ex-players, with other current defensive backs chiming in as well. But now we have to step in and ask: Is Samuel right? Was Revis unfairly boosted by the halo effect of the NYC media? Was Samuel even potentially the better CB?

Probably not. Here’s a tale of the tape between the two players, with data on how their defenses performed, their production according to Pro-Football-Reference’s Approximate Value and their yearly defensive grades per ProFootballFocus:

In terms of individual stats, Revis got the better of Samuel most seasons in their respective careers. Revis had more AV at the same age in seven of 11 years, including the absurd, league-leading 22 AV he posted as the cornerstone of the Jets’ dominating 2009 defense. He also graded as better than Samuel six times in the 10 seasons where they both received ratings, and he probably would also have beaten Samuel another time (at age 24) if PFF had grades for the 2005 season. Revis rated at 90 or better by PFF’s system — generally a mark that contends for the league lead among cornerbacks — four times in his career, and was above 80 seven consecutive years from 2008 to 2014. Samuel broke 90 only once, and was above 80 only twice.

The only area where Samuel has the edge on Revis is in team defensive success, where his Patriots, Philadelphia Eagles and Atlanta Falcons ranked among the top 5 in fewest points per game allowed six times when Samuel was on the roster. Perhaps surprisingly, 2009 was the only season of Revis’s career where his team had a top-five defense. But while Samuel was an important part of New England’s D, he was a cog in the same Bill Belichick-led machine that featured Richard Seymour, Tedy Bruschi, Rodney Harrison, Mike Vrabel, Vince Wilfork, Willie McGinest and others. If anything, Samuel may have benefited from a halo effect — that of being a part of a championship Patriots defense that was more than the sum of its individual parts.

But there was a reason why Revis was the most feared CB of his era — so feared, in fact, that few opposing quarterbacks even had the courage to throw to his side of the field. And while it’s early in Gardner’s career, you can already start to say the same about his skills. 

According to PFF’s grades, Gardner was the highest-rated cornerback in the NFL last season with an overall defensive mark of 87.9. That’s not quite in Revis Island territory yet (QBs actually dared to throw his way enough for him to lead the league with 20 passes defended), but it’s already better than all but one season of Samuel’s career.

That’s why we have to throw a penalty flag on Samuel’s tweetstorm this week. It’s simply not true that Revis and Gardner are products of the New York media hype machine — both players would be superstars in any city, not just NYC.

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