Overrated? Not Bailey? Bailey still is the champ of cornerbacks in my book

In his first year in Denver, Champ Bailey did not lead the league in interceptions, prevent every top receiver he faced from catching a pass or backpedal on water. So the prevailing wisdom says he is overrated, overhyped and overvalued.

In truth, Bailey is the best cornerback in football--a big, fast player who has rare cover ability and instincts and also is a sure tackler. Even Colts quarterback Peyton Manning believes Bailey is the NFL's best corner. "A phenomenal athlete," Manning says. "Unbelievable cover skills."

When Manning's Colts played the Broncos in the regular season and playoffs last year, Indianapolis purposely tried to throw away from Bailey. Other teams challenged Bailey because they didn't want to take their top receiver out of the game.

In analyzing Bailey, I will concede last season was not his best. Even Bailey says he thought he played better in 2000, when he was with Washington and played with certain Hall of Famers Deion Sanders and Darrell Green.

"My second year when I had the greats with me, Deion and Darrell, I think I was more consistent," he says. "You have those guys around you, you step your game up a lot more."

Last season, opponents threw 83 passes Bailey's way and completed 49 of them, 59.0 percent, according to STATS Inc. Those aren't Canton numbers, but they are more impressive when considering Bailey often was guarding the best player on the field and playing an inordinate amount of man-to-man coverage.

Broncos defensive coordinator Larry Coyer estimates the team played man coverage 45 percent of the time last season. Because opponents were able to pick on the corner opposite Bailey so frequently, it's safe to assume the Broncos will be playing more zone defenses this season.

According to Coyer, the Broncos chose to have Bailey lock on to the opponent's best receiver in 11 out of 17 games last year, meaning Bailey followed that player all over the field in man-to-man coverage (see chart).

In eight of those 11 games, Bailey held the receiver he covered to fewer yards than the player's season average. Only Chad Johnson, Peerless Price and Jerry Porter (in one of his two games against the Broncos) exceeded their season averages against Bailey.

Negative perceptions about Bailey can be traced to two high-profile games--a Monday night loss to the Bengals and a home loss to the Raiders. Against the Bengals, on third-and-16, Bailey slipped and fell, leaving Johnson all alone for a 50-yard touchdown.

Porter scored twice with Bailey covering him in their second matchup. On the first touchdown, a 42-yard play, Bailey missed his assignment. The defense called for Bailey to cover a deep zone, but Bailey played it too much like man-to-man and bit on a double move by Porter.

On Porter's second touchdown, a 14-yarder, he ran a hard slant and Bailey gave him too much space. Still, the play would not have been a touchdown if safety Kenoy Kennedy had stayed back as the defense called for him to do.

Critics used those three plays to define Bailey's season, even though he was on the field for about 1,000 snaps.

No one points out, for instance, that Bailey was in on 84 tackles, which was fourth highest on the team. Or that he missed only two tackles all season. Two!

"A guy like Champ could take the approach, 'Hey, I cover guys,'" Broncos safety John Lynch says. "But he tackles, and he doesn't miss tackles, and when he gets a chance, he'll go for a big one. He's unbelievably complete."

Because of Bailey's completeness, Coyer believes he is the finest corner in the NFL. "We review the season, and in our opinion he was the best player we had," Coyer says.

The Broncos never were happier to have Bailey than they were the day the Raiders traded for receiver Randy Moss. It's doubtful Coyer will have Bailey lock on to Moss when the teams play November 13 and December 24 because Moss is too much for any corner to cover one-on-one. There is no player who is as dynamic a corner as Moss is a receiver, in part because the rules favor offensive players. But Bailey is as valuable as a corner can be.

"I've been around the league for a number of years, and you don't get any better than Champ," Denver coach Mike Shanahan says. "I've never been around a guy with that type of speed and anticipation and a guy who has that who isn't afraid to support the run and is a sure tackler. He's everything you look for in a DB."

speed reads

If Eagles receiver Terrell Owens weren't going to talk to teammates or coaches, he wouldn't have been much help to his team, anyway. Really, it would have been bigger of him simply to not show up to camp than to show up and make a spectacle of himself.

If Ravens running back Jamal Lewis was working out 12 hours a day in prison as he says he was, he was overtraining terribly and will not make it through the first month of the season. The human body was not made to work out for 12 hours a day.