Tennessee Titans cornerback Kristian Fulton took a huge step forward in his career during the 2021 campaign following what was an injury-riddled rookie season in 2020.
A former second-round pick, Fulton still dealt with an injury issue that forced him to miss four games, but was also Tennessee’s best cornerback and one of their best defenders overall.
The LSU product played in 13 games, securing a pair of picks, 14 passes defended and 40 combined tackles. He also posted career-bests in completion rate allowed (51.4 percent) and passer rating allowed (71.3) when targeted.
Despite what was a breakout year for him, Fulton isn’t getting much love from Pro Football Focus’ Anthony Treash, who ranked him as the No. 30 outside corner in the NFL, placing him under the “up-and-comers” tier.
After a light workload of mostly slot snaps as a rookie, Fulton finally got a chance to showcase his outside skill set in 2021. He proceeded to post a top-25 coverage grade from that position. Fulton showcased innate playmaking ability with two interceptions, a 16.7% forced incompletion rate (10th among outside cornerbacks) and 12 passing stops (tied for 11th). He is at his best when things are kept in front of him, which is what Tennessee’s defense asks of him.
Treash only helps my point that Fulton is underrated here by citing his rankings in forced incompletion rate (10th) and passing stops (tied-11th).
Adding to that, Fulton had a lower completion rate allowed than the No. 1 player on this list, Los Angeles Rams cornerback Jalen Ramsey, and a lower passer rating allowed than the No. 2 player, Green Bay Packers cornerback Jaire Alexander.
Now, am I saying that Fulton is better than both? Of course not, but I do believe he should have landed higher on this list when taking everything into consideration.