It's been a roller coaster of a season for the Atlanta Falcons' secondary, and Week 13 was no different. Jeff Ulbrich's affinity for single-high coverage came back to haunt the Falcons in the 27-24 loss to the New York Jets, as one Jets' wideout enjoyed the best performance of his young career.
A.J. Terrell impressed as always, but the depth behind him has been shaky at times. While Dee Alford has impressed and Billy Bowman Jr. will miss the rest of the season, the Dirty Birds expected Mike Hughes to build on his impressive season in 2024, but instead has taken a step in the wrong direction.
In the loss, second-year wide receiver Adonai Mitchell caught eight passes for a career-high 102 yards and a touchdown, and most of that production came with Hughes in coverage. And according to Next Gen Stats, the 28-year-old corner enjoyed one of the worst coverage games of the season.
Adonai Mitchell may have just ended Mike Hughes' Falcons career
The crazy part is that the 28-year-old was in coverage on seven of Mitchell's eight receptions and 97 of his receiving yards. And Mitchell's breakout game saw him tie the season-high for the most catches while logging the fourth-most receiving yards against a defender in a game this season.
And to make matters even worse, the former Texas standout's career was at a crossroads just a few weeks ago after stumbling out of the gate with the Colts. But once Gang Green took a chance on him to be their long-term WR2 in the Sauce Gardner trade, that decision managed to immediately pay off.
As for the 2018 first-round pick, he's failed to recapture his 2024 form despite signing an extension with the Falcons last offseason. He was brought in to provide stability to the unit, but has instead proved this season that the biggest weakness in his game is his failure to prevent big plays.
Teams has taken advantage of that all season, and Sunday was no different. The veteran cornerback also allowed a 52-yard touchdown from Tyrod Taylor to Mitchell on Sunday, hampering what's been a strong pass defense.
According to Pro Football Focus, Hughes' 56.5 PFF grade is a far cry from his 2024 PFF grade of 71.9 that ranked him 23rd among all qualified cornerbacks while he's been inconsistent and well below league average in every facet this year.
With Bowman the long-term nickel back and Alford out-performing him, it's not unreasonable to suggest the UCF product is the odd man out in the secondary. And Hughes is alarmingly under contract in Atlanta through 2027, but luckily, Terry Fontenot made that contract easy to get out of.