Riley Moss Is A Penalty Magnet At Corner, Should He Be Replaced When Surtain Comes Back?

The Denver Broncos have great answers to any defensive questions that get thrown their way, but is cornerback Riley Moss an exception to that rule?

He's been a penalty magnet of late, so the possibility of replacing him is a tough one to answer. It’s a tough question, but Broncos beat writer Nick Kosmider of The Athletic took a run at it in his latest Broncos mailbag. He quickly pointed out part of the essence of the Riley Moss conundrum—his stats are excellent.

Quarterbacks are contributing only 52.8 percent of passes when targeting Moss, which is one of the best rates in the NFL for high-volume corners. And according to Next Gen Stats, receivers are creating only 1.9 yards of separation against Moss, which trails only cornerback Quinyon Mitchell of the Philadelphia Eagles. Moss is also a sure tackler who effectively limits yards after the catch, which makes him look like the ideal complement to shutdown corner Pat Surtain II.

Until you look at the penalties. They’re egregious, and they matter. When Moss makes a mistake, he often holds or commits pass interference, and the DPI’s are especially costly. He gave up two pass interference penalties against the Kansas City Chiefs that led directly to nine Kansas City points, and his illegal contact penalty wiped out a pick-six by fellow DB Jahdae Barron.

Some of this is about the volume of throws that go Moss’s way, but he knows he has to do better.

“Listen, I will absolutely own up to the last one, the underthrown ball,” Moss said after the game against the Chiefs, referring to the fourth-quarter penalty that he picked up defending Hollywood Brown deep down the field. “I can’t be grabbing him like that. It’s tough. It’s already a tough position, and I have to be able to, in those situations, play the ball. In practice, it’s going to be a big emphasis. We are going to put the boxing gloves on me — we’re going to tape them up — So there’s no chance (of committing pass interference).”

Kosmider sees this as a coaching problem that can correct Moss’s issues, but is this really a realistic expectation at this point in the season? Moss occasionally looks overmatched against speed receivers, and that’s part of the penalty problem as well. Surtain’s return will fix this problem to a large extent if he comes back healthy, but this is an issue to watch going forward, especially when Denver hits its killer stretch of games down the stretch.