The value of a cornerback that can go toe-to-toe with the NFL's best is invaluable. It's easy to look at numbers like interceptions or passes defended and think this is what a great corner can do. But in Madden NFL 23, veterans know that an elite cornerback contributes to sacks and tackles as well.
The longer that a receiver is covered, the longer the offense has to hold onto the ball, creating more pressure and sacks. Plus, if they can shut down an opponent, this means the safeties and linebackers in Madden NFL 23 are free to blitz without worry.
Updated on February 25th, 2023 by Hodey Johns: The regular season, playoffs, and Super Bowl have concluded. With that all in the books, gamers will be bracing for a long off-season. Ratings adjusters have been working overtime, week-to-week, shifting players based on their performance in the previous weeks. Now, with the last performance in the books, players can pick up and drop players knowing what their stats will be. The ratings adjusters do, sometimes, inexplicably make small changes to player statistics during the offseason. However, this list will likely remain intact and the player statistics won't change substantially enough to merit a significant alteration.
15 Sauce Gardner - 89 OVR
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Rookie Sauce Gardner comes with an incredible story. As a rookie, he made the Pro Bowl, led the league in passes deflected, and earned the Defensive Rookie of the Year award. He started out at a lowly 78 OVR. He's now in the top ten list.
The Jets were considered to be in the middle of a ramping-up process after a rebuild. Because of Gardner's accelerated maturity, the team has decided to flip the switch and enter win-now mode. Experience is going to make New York's opponents even more terrified of what he can become.
10 Denzel Ward - 89 OVR
The Cleveland Browns went into 2021 with betters expecting them to win the Super Bowl. Not only didn't that happen, but the team failed to even be average. There are a lot of players and coaches to blame for the failure but nobody can blame Denzel Ward.
Ward was a superior lockdown defender and returned an interception 99 yards for a touchdown at one point in 2021. In 2022, he followed that up by scoring two defensive touchdowns. When comparing last year's game to this year's Ward is down two points on his OVR, but this is likely more due to the team's mediocrity than his own. Any team would be glad to have Ward.
9 Stephon Gilmore - 90 OVR
It's surprising that teams aren't holding onto Stephon Gilmore for longer. Despite Pro Bowls in five of the last seven years, leading the league in picks and deflected passes, winning the Super Bowl, and winning Defensive Player of the Year, Gilmore joined his third team in three years.
Usually, players this hot get locked up to long-term contracts, but the Indianapolis Colts have happy to see other teams dropping the ball. The Colts had a miserable season and Gilmore missed the Pro Bowl but not due to his own efforts. In fact, the player set a career-high in tackles.
8 Patrick Surtain II - 91 OVR
As the Broncos' offense established itself as one of the league's worst, the defense in 2021 was on the opposite track. Players like Surtain actually saw their OVR increase despite the woes of the team. He made it to the first Pro Bowl in his young career.
Surtain is been demolishing top wideouts and erasing them from the stat columns. If the Broncos were playing better, Suratin would probably be in the top five on this list. Even so, Denver is happy to have somebody on the team dedicated to improvement.
7 Marshon Lattimore - 91 OVR
Marshon Lattimore came onto the scene in 2017 and immediately became a superior defender for the New Orleans Saints. In his rookie year, Lattimore was named Defensive Rookie of the Year and made the Pro Bowl.
This wasn't a flash-in-the-pan, Lattimore is four-time Pro Bowler. An injury crushed well over half of his season and the Saints suffered badly without him there. However, he did look great during his time on the field, regardless of how much his teammates were struggling.
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5 Tre'Davious White - 92 OVR
The Buffalo Bills were perhaps on pace to win the Super Bowl in the 2021 season before Tre'Davious White went down with an ACL injury. Given how close they came, it's impossible to deny they would have been very close to a title if White was healthy.
White took some time out to handle his depression to start the year. But when he came back, White improved as the season went on, showing the world that the Bills' secondary, when healthy, is jammed full of talent.
4 Marlon Humphrey - 93 OVR
Here's a weird statistic for a cornerback to have: In 2020, Marlon Humphrey forced a league-leading eight fumbles. That's one every other game. Cornerbacks aren't supposed to be doing that. But that's just what Humphrey did to gain his second consecutive Pro Bowl nod.
Last season was cut short by a torn pectoral muscle, but Humphrey is back and made the Pro Bowl. His game is unique in that he chases down tackles like he's a linebacker, making him an aggressive asset to the Ravens' defense. His three sacks last season are an anomaly for the position.
3 Darius Slay Jr. - 93 OVR
In the last six years, Darius Slay Jr. has made it to the Pro Bowl five times, a remarkable stretch of dominance. In 2017, Slay led the league in interceptions and passes deflected. But he's still in his prime; he led the league in defensive touchdowns in 2021.
When expecting big changes in franchise mode, don't downplay Slay's durability. In his nine-year career, he has never played fewer than twelve games in a season. He played every game for the Eagles this year, leading the defense to a Super Bowl, and the only reason his stats aren't higher is that quarterbacks refuse to tempt fate.
2 Jaire Alexander - 95 OVR
It can be hard to predict where the top players will land in the ratings when they are coming off an injury. In 2020, Jaire Alexander got his first Pro Bowl nod. Unfortunately, he only played four games in 2021 before injury cut his season short.
Alexander fell four points in OVR at the halfway point this year. Then he strung together a powerful series of games, propelling the Packers into playoff talks. The team didn't quite hit that, but Alexander rose five points in OVR, matching his five picks, one short of the league lead.
1 Jalen Ramsey - 97 OVR
One of the most difficult parts about measuring great cornerbacks is that their contributions are oftentimes unquantifiable. Quarterbacks learn to throw nowhere near the player and therefore reduce the number of statistics they can compile.
If the developers revealed another 99 player this year, it would likely have been Jalen Ramsey. Even with few opportunities, Ramsey set or tied career highs in interceptions, passes deflected, forced fumbles, fumble recoveries, and tackles. The Rams were horrendous in 2022 but Ramsey has never been better.
Madden NFL 23 is available for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.