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Falcons: A.J. Terrell should have won 2021 Defensive Player of the Year

By Grayson Freestone

Jan 2, 2022; Orchard Park, New York, USA; Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen (17) splits Atlanta Falcons cornerback A.J. Terrell (24) and safety Duron Harmon (21) on a run during the first half at Highmark Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 2, 2022; Orchard Park, New York, USA; Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen (17) splits Atlanta Falcons cornerback A.J. Terrell (24) and safety Duron Harmon (21) on a run during the first half at Highmark Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports /
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This might seem like a completely outlandish claim but the Atlanta Falcons All-Pro cornerback, A.J. Terrell should have won AP Defensive Player of the Year, and there is solid evidence as to why.

Any Falcons fan knows just how great Terrell was last season. His rookie to sophomore jump was insane and he played better than anyone ever could have expected. When you add everything together you will see why he should have at the very least received some votes for the award.

Falcons CB had a strong case to win DPOY but no one paid attention

One of the things you should look forward to the most in the upcoming Falcons season is watching how A.J. Terrell follows up his incredible second season in the NFL. To be perfectly honest, we should not expect him to be any better because that would be nearly impossible.

The NFL Defensive Player of the Year for the 2021 season was Pittsburgh Steelers pass rusher T.J. Watt who had an incredible season. He tied Michael Strahan’s single-season sack record, to think the Falcons could have had him is sickening.

There is no doubt Watt deserved the award, what he did was special.

Three players received at least one vote for this award, and those were Aaron Donald (3 votes), Micah Parsons (5 votes), and obviously T.J. Watt (42 votes).

A.J. Terrell should have been on that list. Let’s look at some of the stats that prove why.

The last cornerback to win the award was Stephon Gilmore with the Patriots in 2019. He had an excellent season which got him 42% of the votes among seven players.

The thing is that A.J. Terrell’s stats in 2021 were actually much better than Gilmore’s in 2019. Here is a look at many different stats from Pro Football Focus for these two players:

  • A.J. Terrell (2021): 1 sack, 56 tackles, 18 stops, 1 forced fumble, 66 targets, 29 receptions allowed, 43.9% completion, 200 yards allowed, 6.9 yards per reception allowed, 93 yards after catch allowed, longest completion allowed 28 yards, 3 TDs allowed, 3 interceptions, 13 pass breakups, and a 47.5 passer rating against, 4 penalties
  • Stephon Gilmore (2019): 0 sacks, 47 tackles, 8 stops, 0 forced fumbles, 96 targets, 47 receptions allowed, 49% completion, 624 yards allowed, 13.3 yards per reception allowed, 214 yards after catch allowed, longest completion allowed 53 yards, 1 touchdown allowed, 6 interceptions, 13 pass breakups, 47.4 passer rating against, 6 penalties

That is a lot of information to process and we will go over it. Just so you know, each bolded number means that player had the better stats in that area or in the case of pass breakups, a tie.

At a quick glance, you can say that the better season probably went to A.J. Terrell, meaning he had a better season than a guy who won a Defensive Player of the Year.

We will throw out the sacks and those stats that really do not matter too much to a corner, but they were included just to add to the argument.

Terrell was targetted 30 fewer times, allowed 18 fewer receptions, had a 4.4 lower completion percentage against him, allowed 424 fewer yards, 6.4 fewer yards per completion, 121 fewer yards after the catch, and his longest completion allowed was 25 fewer yards than Gilmore’s.

That is simply incredible, but one stat sticks out and that is the fact that Terrell gave up 200 yards compared to Gilmore’s 624 yards. After all, isn’t that the point of a corner, to not give up yards?

The only things that Terrell did not beat Gilmore in are touchdowns allowed — only giving up three TDs in a season is special — interceptions, and passer rating but Gilmore only beat him out by .1, so they basically were tied.

Interceptions are also not exactly a stat that shows how good a corner is — looking at you, Trevon Diggs — as great corners are not targeted as much as others, therefore have fewer opportunities to snag picks.

The other thing you have to factor in is that the 2019 Patriots had ten more sacks than the 2021 Falcons. Terrell had the least amount of help of any corner last year.

And last, but not least, their Pro Football Focus grades across the board were virtually the same.

Now, again, T.J. Watt had a phenomenal season and it is much easier to see if a pass rusher had a great year than a corner. You cannot be mad at Watt ending up with Defensive Player of the Year.

The Pittsburgh Steelers were also a better team than the Falcons, but at the very least, A.J. Terrell should have received some votes, he had an all-time great season at the corner position. It just comes down to media attention, which obviously Terrell did not get when you consider he did not even make the Pro Bowl.

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