Scouting Morris Claiborne
Back in March, the Jets confirmed the signing of former Cowboys cornerback Morris Claiborne, who is expected to start for the Jets after signing a one-year deal.
The 27-year-old Claiborne is listed at 5-foot-11, 188 pounds, and was the sixth overall pick in the 2012 draft out of LSU. He spent his first five seasons with the Cowboys but has missed a total of 33 games due to a variety of injury issues. His 2016 season was regarded as the best of his career so far, but he was limited to just seven appearances.
Background
Claiborne, a high-school track star, emerged out of the shadow of Patrick Peterson to become an all-American and the winner of the Jim Thorpe award for the nation’s best defensive back and the SEC defensive player of the year award. After being a reserve throughout his freshman year, he recorded 11 interceptions over the next two seasons, with career highs of 52 tackles, six passes defensed and six interceptions in his award-winning junior year. After the season, he opted to enter the draft early.
Heading into the 2012 draft, Claiborne was highly rated, overcoming some concerns over a low Wonderlic score to end up getting selected by the Cowboys with the sixth overall pick.
Claiborne’s rookie year was actually his most statistically productive, as he set career highs in terms of tackles (55), passes defensed (eight) and turnovers forced (three, including two fumble recoveries, one of which he returned for a score). However, that was in large part due to the fact he was targeted a lot with Brandon Carr locking down the other side. He also played in a career-high 15 games.
Over the next three seasons, Claiborne suffered through a litany of injury issues and struggled to live up to his pre-draft potential. The Cowboys, having opted not to exercise his fifth-year option, instead brought him back for a fifth season on a one-year deal for a much lower sum of $3 million.
The injury issues persisted into the 2016 season, but when he was healthy Claiborne had his most consistent season. Prior to signing a one-year deal with the Jets for a maximum of $5 million, Claiborne had reportedly turned down a multi-year deal with the Ravens for $5 million a year because he was seeking $7.5 million.
Let's move onto some more in-depth analysis of what Claiborne brings to the table, based on my research and film study.
Measurables/Athleticism
Claiborne has adequate size and excellent length. While he is currently listed at 188 pounds, he was 185 when he entered the league, but bulked up to 193 when the Cowboys changed their defensive system early on in his career. His weight had dropped as low as 150 when he was injured in 2014.
At the combine, Claiborne’s athletic numbers were average-to-below average but he impressed with a 4.43 40-yard dash at his pro day.
You can get a good sense of his speed on this touchdown return:
Usage
Claiborne has primarily played on the outside and typically the Cowboys would just leave him on one side rather than matching their cornerbacks up. He’s mostly played right cornerback until 2016 when he moved to the left and had his best season.
Claiborne has played in the slot sometimes, but mainly just when the offensive formation dictated that. Even when he was the third cornerback in Dallas, he typically entered the game on the outside and one of the starters moved into the slot.
Coverage skills
Last year, Claiborne comfortably set career highs in terms of completion percentage when targeted and yards per reception. Entering the season, he’d given up 9.4 yards per target, but in 2016 he gave up less than half as much. He also didn’t give up a 35-yard catch for the first time in his career and was only beaten for one touchdown having given up 10 in his previous four seasons.
On deep balls, he usually does a good job of staying with his man and then getting his head turned to locate the ball. Two of his interceptions came on underthrown deep balls in this exact situation. However, there were a couple of plays where he was beaten early and didn’t have time to get his head turned as he looked to recover. He was lucky that a couple of these hit him in the back.
Claiborne plays a lot of off-coverage or press-bail and shows good closing speed in breaking back to the ball when he does so.
Physicality/Penalties
Claiborne was sometimes employed in press coverage but seemed inconsistent in terms of getting a clean jam to slow up his man at the line. He also seems to play close to the edge in terms of getting away with calls where he may have made contact with or grabbed a receiver.
He has been penalized 28 times in his career, including 15 times in his last 18 starts. He had a career-worst nine penalties in 2015 and six in seven games in 2016. 12 of his penalties have been for pass interference and eight for defensive holding, but only one was for illegal contact.
Ball skills
Claiborne has just four interceptions so far in his career and has never had more than one in a season. However, he’s made plenty of plays on the ball with 27 passes defensed in 47 games. He displayed his playmaking ability in college with five interceptions in his sophomore year and another six as a junior.
He has good timing when diving to extend and deflect passes, although there are obviously risks involved in doing that. Here’s one of many example of him doing that to break up a pass:
His hands are not perfect. Last year, he dropped two interceptions in a preseason game and then another in a week three game that led to a comeback win for the Atlanta Falcons. He made a spectacular leaping grab on this play though:
Once he gets the ball in his hands, Claiborne is a threat as a return man. His 11 interception returns in college netted an impressive 274 yards and one score and he also returned a fumble 50 yards for a score in his rookie year as shown in the earlier gif.
Run defense
Claiborne hasn’t been particularly productive against the run, never making more than a couple of stops against the run in any season. That’s not unusual for a cornerback playing primarily on the outside.
He has had a tendency to get caught up on blocks, lose contain or overpursue at times.
This clip, from his first ever NFL game, saw him caught too far inside, which enabled Ahmad Bradshaw to stiff-arm him to get to the outside.
Tackling
Here’s a good hit in space, stopping the runner in his tracks:
Claiborne has been a relatively consistent tackler over the course of his career, only missing four in 2016.
However, at times he’ll lay a hit with the shoulder rather than wrapping his man up and that led to a long touchdown on this play:
Blitzing
Claiborne has only rushed the passer a couple of times in the NFL, although he did record one quarterback hit. He never had a sack in college.
Instincts/Intelligence
Claiborne drew a lot of attention at the scouting combine when he scored just four out of 50 in the Wonderlic aptitude test. It later emerged that Claiborne has been diagnosed with learning difficulties and he admits that he just “blew off the test” when he realized it had nothing to do with football.
The only touchdown he gave up in 2016 seemed to have more to do with awareness than coverage skills, as Jordan Matthews broke sharply to sit down in a gap in the defense at the goal line and Claiborne was too far off to react:
Demeanor/Attitude
Perhaps the most controversial moment of Claiborne’s career came following Orlando Scandrick’s return from suspension in week four of the 2014 season. Claiborne had started the first three games and had a key interception to clinch the win that took Dallas to 2-1. However, he had been beaten for two scores earlier in the game and was informed he would be demoted the following week.
Claiborne did not react well, leaving the team and missing some meetings and walk-throughs. It was thought that might be the end of his time in Dallas, but he returned and played in the game the following week, only to suffer a season-ending injury.
Like a lot of cornerbacks, Claiborne can have a tendency to demonstrably celebrate incompletions even on plays where he was lucky rather than having actually done anything to affect the play.
Special teams
Claiborne has seen action on multiple special teams units over the course of his career, but not had much production. He had two special teams tackles, both as a rookie, and has since then mostly been employed as a vice, although he has also seen some action as a gunner, on kick rush units and in kick coverage. He’s committed three penalties, one for running into the kicker and the other two for holding.
He hasn’t been used as a return man at the NFL level but averaged over 25 yards per kick-off return in college, including a 99-yard touchdown.
Injuries
Claiborne has an unbelievably long list of injury issues, which have caused him to miss exactly half of the games over the past four seasons, including nine last year. He missed half the season with a strained groin but returned in the postseason only to then be sidelined again with a rib injury. He also required pelvis surgery after the season. Injuries in the past include wrist, shoulder, ankle and knee problems.
Conclusions
Overcoming some recent struggles, Claiborne proved in 2016 that he can still play at a high level. However, what he failed to disprove was the concern that he’s incapable of staying healthy. In that respect, he’s reminiscent of former Jets cornerback Dee Milliner who was a top 10 pick the year after Claiborne, but has already apparently been given up on. Unlike Milliner, Claiborne has at least had some success at getting back on the field when he’s missed time.
He actually probably has more in common with Dimitri Patterson, who John Idzik’s Jets signed after the 2013 season. Patterson had played well in 2013 but had been limited to six appearances due to injuries. The Jets were hoping he could stay healthy and play to that level in a starter role, but unfortunately things never progressed to that point after he went AWOL in preseason and was ultimately released.
That was a pretty unique situation, one which de-railed a low-cost move which, on paper, made a lot of sense. However, the Jets can’t really afford to rest on their laurels because the chances of Claiborne being healthy for a full season and playing at a high level seem slim.
There’s a potential upside to this move, sure. If Claiborne can figure out how to stay healthy, then he’s just about to hit his prime. The most positive thing is that the obvious downside, while it has a good chance of happening, may not have any long-term ramifications.
Up next: We’re going to take a look at new starting quarterback Josh McCown. What can we expect from him in 2017?