The Los Angeles Rams have had plenty go wrong during their 2-4 start, but cornerback hasn’t been one of the problems.

Two Rams land inside Max Chadwick’s five highest-graded cornerbacks in PFN’s Cornerback Impact rankings, including Trent McDuffie at No. 1 by an enormous margin. Isaiah Rodgers, Renardo Green, Nohl Williams, and Josh Wallace complete a group that features several players making significant jumps from their previous seasons.

PFN’s cornerback grading weighs coverage performance alongside playmaking and efficiency, with statistics such as passer rating allowed, yards allowed per target, interceptions, and pass breakups helping capture how effectively a defender has limited opposing passing games.

5) Josh Wallace, Los Angeles Rams

Josh Wallace has gone from a relatively unheralded young corner to one of the league’s highest-graded players at the position.

Wallace owns an 89.1 coverage grade, fourth-best in the NFL in the ranking snapshot Chadwick used. Quarterbacks have produced only a 38.8 passer rating when throwing into his coverage, the sixth-best mark among qualifying corners.

He has also recorded an interception and four pass breakups, providing the type of ball production that wasn’t a major part of his profile during his rookie season.

The year-over-year jump is what stood out most to Chadwick. Wallace finished his first season well outside the top tier of PFN’s cornerback rankings. In 2026, he has performed like a legitimate high-end starter.

Wallace’s emergence has also changed the complexion of the Rams’ secondary. Los Angeles entered the offseason needing more from its cornerback room, then made a major investment to add McDuffie. Getting this type of development from Wallace alongside that acquisition has turned a previous weakness into one of the roster’s clearest strengths.

The Rams’ record has made it easy to focus on what isn’t working. Chadwick’s point was that the corners deserve to be separated from those broader struggles. Wallace has played too well to be grouped in with the team’s other issues.

4) Nohl Williams, Kansas City Chiefs

Kansas City created an enormous opening in its secondary when it traded McDuffie to Los Angeles during the offseason. Nohl Williams has helped make that decision considerably easier to absorb.

Williams has an 87.7 coverage grade, fifth-best among qualifying cornerbacks, while allowing a 57.9 passer rating when targeted. He has also broken up six passes, placing him among the more productive corners in the league at getting his hands on the football.

His PFN profile has been balanced rather than dependent on one category. Williams has an 80.4 playmaking grade and a 77.7 efficiency grade in addition to his high-end coverage score.

That represents a meaningful step forward for a player only in his second NFL season. Kansas City selected Williams in the third round of the 2025 NFL Draft, and he showed enough as a rookie to suggest there was more upside available. His development has accelerated after the Chiefs moved on from their former No. 1 corner.

Chadwick viewed Williams as one of the biggest reasons Kansas City’s defense hasn’t collapsed after losing McDuffie. Replacing an All-Pro corner with another star isn’t realistic, but the Chiefs needed someone capable of taking on a significantly larger role.

Through the first portion of 2026, Williams has done much more than simply survive that responsibility.

3) Renardo Green, San Francisco 49ers

Renardo Green has been a solid NFL corner since entering the league. His third season has added the playmaking production needed to push him into a different tier.

Green’s 94.6 playmaking grade ranks third among qualifying cornerbacks. He has intercepted three passes, tied for the league lead at the position in the snapshot used for Chadwick’s ranking, and added five pass breakups.

That’s eight plays on the football through the early part of the season.

His coverage numbers have been strong as well. Green owns an 83.0 coverage grade and an 81.3 efficiency score while holding opposing quarterbacks to a 52.2 passer rating when targeting him.

The progression has been steady. Chadwick noted that Green ranked around the mid-30s at the position early in his career, then climbed to approximately 30th before making the jump all the way to No. 3 this season.

The interceptions are a major part of that rise. Cornerback evaluation can’t be based solely on takeaways because interceptions can fluctuate from year to year, but consistently getting into position to make plays on the ball is still valuable. Green has done that repeatedly.

San Francisco has played some of the best football in the league, and Green’s emergence has given the 49ers another impact defender in the secondary. Chadwick sees the 2026 season as the year Green has moved from being a dependable starter to a legitimate difference-maker.

2) Isaiah Rodgers, Minnesota Vikings

Isaiah Rodgers has spent much of his NFL career as a quality corner. In 2026, he has played like a true No. 1.

Rodgers owns a 93.3 coverage grade, second-best in the NFL, and quarterbacks have managed a passer rating of only 31.4 when throwing in his direction. He has also recorded an interception and four pass breakups.

Chadwick emphasized how dramatic the jump has been relative to Rodgers’ previous PFN grades. He had never reached an 80 overall grade before this season. Now he sits above 90.

The performance has been particularly valuable because of the defense Rodgers plays in. Minnesota defensive coordinator Brian Flores has built one of the NFL’s most aggressive units, frequently sending extra rushers and putting pressure on the secondary to survive without as much help behind the blitz.

A coordinator can’t consistently play that way unless he trusts his corners.

Rodgers has rewarded that trust, and he isn’t alone. Byron Murphy Jr. has also graded among the league’s better cornerbacks, giving Minnesota the type of secondary required to support Flores’ pressure-heavy approach.

The result has been the best defense in football through the first part of the season. Rodgers isn’t simply benefiting from playing within that unit, either. His individual coverage numbers are among the biggest reasons Minnesota can afford to be as aggressive as it is.

1) Trent McDuffie, Los Angeles Rams

Trent McDuffie isn’t just leading PFN’s cornerback rankings. Chadwick believes he is putting together one of the best cornerback seasons of the modern era.

The Rams acquired McDuffie from the Kansas City Chiefs in March, sending Kansas City a package of draft picks before signing him to a four-year contract extension. Los Angeles needed a true difference-maker in its secondary, and the early returns have been extraordinary.

McDuffie owns a 97.2 coverage grade, nearly four points higher than any other cornerback in Chadwick’s ranking snapshot. Opposing quarterbacks have managed a 22.5 passer rating when targeting him while averaging just 2.0 yards per target.

He has an interception and seven pass breakups, combining elite coverage consistency with regular production on the football.

The gap between McDuffie and everyone else is substantial. His 98.7 overall grade sits 8.6 points ahead of Rodgers at No. 2. There are good seasons, elite seasons, and then there is the level McDuffie has reached through the opening portion of 2026.

Chadwick went a step further by comparing McDuffie’s grade with PFN’s historical cornerback database.

Among seasons charted since 2006, McDuffie’s current grade would rank second. The only season ahead of him is Darrelle Revis’ legendary 2009 campaign with the New York Jets.

That is rare company. Revis’ 2009 season remains one of the defining examples of shutdown cornerback play, with the Jets repeatedly asking him to follow elite opposing receivers without the type of protection most cornerbacks receive.

McDuffie maintaining this pace for an entire season is far from guaranteed, but Chadwick’s point isn’t that six weeks automatically places him alongside Revis historically. It’s that his performance to this point has been good enough to enter that conversation.

The trade has also given Los Angeles exactly what it was looking for. McDuffie arrived as a two-time All-Pro and two-time Super Bowl champion after four seasons in Kansas City, so the Rams weren’t acquiring an unknown player and hoping for a breakout. They paid for a star.

Somehow, McDuffie has been even better than that billing so far.

The Rams may have plenty to fix elsewhere after their slow start, but Chadwick sees no uncertainty at the top of their secondary. Through the first part of 2026, no cornerback in football has been particularly close to McDuffie.