Bengals CB DJ Turner ranks among NFL's best in key coverage metrics

In a season where the Cincinnati Bengals have a historically woeful defense in which player selection, ability, and desire to tackle are in question, cornerback DJ Turner has been a standout. 

Turner has become the cornerstone in Cincinnati’s defensive backfield that many of us expected he would be after being selected in the second round of the 2022 draft out of Michigan. 

Now, the numbers have caught up with what fans have witnessed this season: Turner is an excellent cover corner. 

DJ Turner emerging as a top-five cover corner

One of the sites that “grades” NFL performance that deserves more of our attention is Pro Football Network. They do a good job of basing their scores on results and what happens on the field. 

Therefore, when you watch the games, what they say and see makes sense, which is not always the case with some sites whose apparent main goal is to look more like a chess strategy book than a summary of what actually impacts what happened in an NFL game.  

According to PFSN, through 10 games this season, Turner is the third-best corner in terms of impact on the game, a metric that measures performance when targeted.

Before Sunday’s matchup against the Steelers, Turner led the NFL in combined interceptions and pass breakups with 12. His 10 PBUs are second in the league. 

Turner’s 92.7 impact grade ranks third in the NFL. Unfortunately, his performance against Pittsburgh might not help with his season grades, as he graded out as only the 10th-best corner in Week 11 with an 80.8 score. 

After Sunday’s game, Turner is up to 14 passes defended, which ties the league lead. That increases his INT-PBU total to 16, which remains the orange and black standard for the rest of the league. 

Can DJ Turner cover the top spot by season's end?

There is still time for Turner to become PFSN’s best-ranked defensive back in pass breakups plus interceptions. However, he must jump over two Steelers’ corners in Joey Porter Jr and James Pierre. 

Through seven and six games played this season, Porter and Pierre are one and two in PFSN’s rankings, respectively. They, along with Turner, are the only players with “A” grades.

Having Pittsburgh’s defenders so high on this list helps explain some of the frustration and offensive constipation we saw against the Steelers’ defense on Sunday. 

Cam Taylor-Britt on wrong side of coverage metric

At the other end of the spectrum, Cam Taylor-Britt’s 66.4, “D” grade is 94th out of 115 cornerbacks.

We have seen the coaching staff less than pleased with Taylor-Britt’s performance, as the team has benched the veteran DB several times this year. 

Unfortunately, Taylor-Britt will not have the opportunity to improve upon that poor ranking due to his season-ending injury. Thus, his underwhelming 2025 campaign will linger as we head into a critical offseason for him and the defense's inevitable reshaping ahead of the 2026 season. 

DJ Turner shines in midst of dark season

Turner has proved to be one of, if not the best, pieces for the defense to build around moving forward. 

The team should now move to get Turner help in the form of a suitable pass rush. That includes moving on from as many failed experiments in the defensive front-seven as quickly as possible. 

Those moves could include moving on from first-rounders Shemar Stewart and Myles Murphy. Murphy, who, for some strange reason, after three years of bust-worthy exposition and three years of promising yet unspectacular college film, is getting praise for looking like an NFL player, one time. Harsh, yet one of the sad realities of the failing draft process that ails the team. 

If Turner can be among the best cornerbacks in the NFL with one of the worst defensive lines and linebacking cores playing in front of him, how good would he look if he had a top-20 group on his side?

Challenge incoming with Patriots on to Cincinnati

Next up for Turner and the Bengals’ defense are the New England Patriots. 

Quarterback Drake Maye leads the NFL in passing yards. He also has a league-best completion percentage of 71.9% among QBs with a minimum of 50 attempts.

The Patriots’ leading receiver in receptions is Stefon Diggs. However, they do an excellent job of getting the ball into all of their receivers’ hands. Besides Diggs, Cincinnati’s secondary must contend with Kayshon Boutte, Mack Hollins, and tight end Hunter Henry.

Lining up against the league’s best passer will be an excellent opportunity for Turner to show off his improvement and shutdown ability. At least, that is how we hope this plays out. 

Hopefully, Turner will maintain his top-level play against the Patriots because the Bengals must get an impressive defensive performance to have any chance of beating New England. 

The team is, and will be this offseason, looking to improve a historically bad defense. But at least the Bengals have a cornerstone to build upon and around in DJ Turner II. His development and play are reasons fans should stick around the rest of the season despite the Bengals' disappointing defensive performance.

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