New York Jets’ Brian Poole is one of the NFL’s hottest cornerbacks (Film)

Over the past three weeks, few cornerbacks in the NFL have covered as effectively as Brian Poole has for the New York Jets. Brian Poole allowed a 37.5 passer rating on throws in his direction from Weeks 4-6, sixth-best among 77 qualified cornerbacks over that span. After a shaky start to the season, he has gotten back to providing the elite slot coverage that Jets fans were used to seeing from him throughout the 2019 season. Let's dig into Poole's hot streak over the past three weeks. Week 4 vs. Denver Broncos quarterback Brett Rypien completed 2-of-4 passes for 20 yards, one first down, and one interception on throws in Poole's direction. Poole dropped into coverage on 31 snaps, allowing 0.65 yards per cover snap (the average among cornerbacks this season is 1.23). On 2nd & 8, Poole lines up with outside leverage against tight end Nick Vannett and takes him man-to-man. Vannett runs a dig route over the middle. There is almost no chance for Poole to get over top of it due to the presnap leverage, so he decides to undercut the route. He can do this since he knows he has help over the top from either the outside corner (Pierre Desir) or the middle safety (Bradley McDougald) since there is only one downfield route run to that side of the field - McDougald is the one who ends up driving on the ball. Rypien forces the ball out late while under pressure from Steve McLendon and Poole picks it off. Excellent display of awareness to make this play, understanding he could (and should) get aggressive. Strong work from Poole on this 3rd & 13 play to shut down an option and contribute to forcing Rypien into an intentional grounding penalty. Poole lines up in the slot to the field side. He leaves the slot receiver's seam route to the safety (McDougald) and picks up the outside receiver. The outside receiver sells inside and then transitions into a corner route, cutting up the field and towards the sideline. Poole mirrors it the whole way, taking the option away. Rypien is clearly looking for it but is prompted not to make the throw due to the coverage quality. John Franklin-Myers and Bryce Huff are given enough time to get home, pressuring Rypien into throwing the ball away for a penalty. Week 5 vs. Arizona Against the Cardinals, Poole allowed 2-of-4 passing in his direction for 20 yards and zero first downs over 38 snaps in coverage, giving up 0.53 yards per cover snap. His most common matchup was future Hall-of-Famer Larry Fitzgerald. Poole takes Fitzgerald man-to-man in the slot on 2nd & 8, giving five yards of cushion off the line of scrimmage. He remains patient in his backpedal and uses his peripheral vision to eye both Fitzgerald and Kyler Murray. Poole sees Murray readying to throw in Fitzgerald's direction simultaneously as Fitzgerald throws his inside foot to cut outside, so Poole aggressively breaks on the flat route before Fitzgerald even gets his head turned. Poole perfectly times his arrival at the catch point and positions himself well to break up the pass with his inside hand. On 2nd & 15, Poole takes Fitzgerald man-to-man in the slot, this time on the left side and again providing about five yards of cushion. Fitzgerald runs a crossing route, and Neville Hewitt does an excellent job of not biting on the play fake and getting depth to impede Fitzgerald's route (you don't see stuff like this from Hewitt very often). Knowing he has Hewitt underneath, Poole focuses on staying over top of Fitzgerald. Murray tries to hit Fitzgerald, but overthrows as he attempts to squeeze the ball into the tight window. Poole nearly picks it off. Great team coverage by Poole and Hewitt. Week 6 at Miami In Miami, Poole was tagged as responsible for 2-of-3 passing, 20 yards, one first down, and one interception over 26 snaps in coverage, giving up 0.77 yards per cover snap. Yes, he was knocked with exactly 20 yards in three consecutive games. Let's take a look at the interception, which occurred on 1st & 10 at the Jets' 16-yard line with 29 seconds left in the first half. The Jets run a Tampa-2 with the unique wrinkle of dropping Tarell Basham off the edge to bring an extra defender into coverage while rushing only three. Poole has hook/curl responsibility to the boundary side. Ryan Fitzpatrick sees Basham charging hard to hit his spot while failing to pick up Mike Gesicki's crossing route from left to right, so he thinks he has an open window for Gesicki based on that alone. For whatever reason, Fitzpatrick appears completely oblivious to Poole standing directly in the passing lane to Gesicki. Poole never even moves pre- or post-snap. Fitzpatrick makes a rookie mistake as Poole is able to easily undercut the throw and pick it off. Awful display of tunnel vision by Fitzpatrick, seeing nothing beyond the route he was focused on. Nice job by Poole reading the quarterback's eyes and wisely choosing to make an aggressive play based upon Fitzpatrick's strict focus on one target. Playing the field side hook/curl zone in Cover-2 on 2nd & 10, Poole breaks underneath a curl route at the sticks to remove the option. Fitzpatrick looks at it as his third read, but with Poole obviously blocking the lane, he is prompted to scramble. Franklin-Myers creates pressure and Huff chases Fitzpatrick down for the sack. Poole appears to be on the path to providing amazing value on a cheap one-year deal for the second straight year. What does his future hold? Could Poole be prime trade bait over the next few weeks? Will the Jets hold on to Poole and reward him for his efforts with a long-term deal, taking the risk of investing in a slot cornerback (one of the league's most volatile positions) into his 30s? Or, will Joe Douglas and the Jets happily settle for the value they have gotten out of Poole and let someone else gamble on him as he faces potential regression? In this scenario, the Jets would be playing it safe, but they would also be taking the risk of missing out on more years of great play from a late bloomer. That's exactly what the Jets did with Demario Davis while Mike Maccagnan was at the helm, letting Davis walk to New Orleans after a breakout 2017 season at 28 years old that was a major outlier at the time. Davis has continued to be one of the best linebackers in football as a Saint. Of course, just because Davis maintained his newfound elite status in his new home, it does not guarantee Poole will. Davis is merely one example. What Davis exemplifies is that there is absolutely a chance that Poole has quite simply developed into an elite player and has plenty left in the tank, regardless of his age or the level of player he was pre-breakout. No matter what happens, the Jets have to be thrilled with what they have gotten from Poole over his first 20 games with the team. He continues to be one of the best players in the league at his position. Going from Buster Skrine to Poole has been night-and-day.