Eagles receiver Jason Avant says he’ll see a good cornerback on the field Sunday when Arizona’s Patrick Peterson comes to town. But not a shutdown cornerback.
That’s because, Avant says, shutdown cornerbacks in the NFL are extinct. Avant says NFL passing offenses are so advanced -- and NFL rules are so favorable to those offenses -- that there’s really no cornerback in football who can be relied upon to consistently shut down the other team’s top receiver.
“There’s no shutdown corners in this league,” Avant told CSNPhilly.com. “That’s just the honest truth. There are very, very, very good players and [Peterson is] a very, very good player and that’s just what you have. But in this league, with all of the rules and all of the things that that can transpire when the quarterback is accurate, there is no one that can literally be lock down. He’s in the top two or three best, but there’s still no lock down.”
Avant is fourth on the Eagles in catches and receiving yards, so he’s not the guy Peterson will be covering. But when Peterson lines up against the Eagles’ top receiver, DeSean Jackson, he’ll be trying to prove Avant wrong.