As Richard Sherman said, 26-year-old cornerback D.J. Reed is having an elite season for the New York Jets. Reed is allowing the 9th-lowest passer rating out of 89 qualified cornerbacks this season (58.6).
Reed has been particularly elite in one specific area: zone coverage. In fact, he has a case to be the best zone corner in the NFL right now.
Across 221 snaps in zone coverage, Reed has allowed 10-of-25 passes in his direction to be completed (40.0%) for 89 yards, 0 touchdowns, and 1 interception.
Here are some of Reed’s zone-coverage ranks out of 90 qualified cornerbacks (min.