Today, I wanted to continue learning about the 2026 NFL Draft class for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Up next is Georgia CB Daylen Everette. The goal of the article is to see the quantity and quality of his coverage in man and zone coverage from a stats perspective.
First, let’s look at drafted cornerbacks’ coverage rates (quantity) and QB rating against (quality) in man coverage last season:
Everette lands on the bottom right, meaning the frequency was greater than the results. His 30.3-percent man coverage rate ranked 13th out of 31 qualifiers. For context, the top rank was 43.2-percent, and the lowest was 7.8-percent.
While he played man coverage at an above-average rate, Everette’s 90.5 QB rating against ranked 24th, the eighth-worst among his peers. The best mark was 7.5, and the worst came in at 135.9. There are many layers to the stat, so diving deeper is important.
The bright side was Everette allowing just nine receptions on 23 targets, for a respectable 39.1-percent catch rate allowed. 13-percent were forced incompletions (three), including two pass breakups. So there were some good aspects of play.
Issues he will be looking to clean up are allowing two touchdowns, missing two tackles (25-percent miss rate), yards after catch, and no interceptions, as well as dropping one.
Now for a similar view in zone coverage in 2025:
Everette lands on the bottom right once again. His 62.8-percent zone coverage rate was 13th, the same rank as his man coverage rate. 72.8- percent was the highest zone coverage rate, with 49.2-percent being the least. Everette having a nice split of both is good to see, experience-wise, but you’d of course like to see stronger results.
In zone coverage, Everette’s 100.7 QB rating against ranked fifth-worst in the draft class. The best mark was 14.6, and the bottom rank was 158.3 (lowest possible). Everette allowed 19 catches on 24 targets, for a 79.2-percent catch rate allowed. Zone, of course, gives receivers space, so allowing a higher catch rate was expected, but certainly could have been better as well.
The crystal clear positive compared to man coverage was being a more solid tackler in zone. Missed just one tackle (4.3-percent missed tackle rate) on respectable volume, including six stops (tackle for an unsuccessful offensive play). He had none of the latter in man coverage.
As a result, yards per reception was stronger in zone (10.3) than man (16.4). Zone generally presents fewer opportunities on the ball, which was true for Everette. A lower 8.0-percent forced incompletion rate (two forced incompletions) included one pass breakup and no interceptions. Another bright side in zone was the ultimate goal of not allowing a TD.
Everette certainly has plenty of things he can hopefully improve on in the NFL. There is time to hopefully do so, with players in front of him on the depth chart that he can learn from. He has quality athletic traits that Pittsburgh is likely hoping they can coach up and develop. Here’s to hoping that’s exactly how it transpires.
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