It didn't take long for Chicago Bears rookie defensive back Malik Muhammad to leave an impact.
Forced into early duty in the absence of Kyler Gordon, Muhammad notched an interception in his first game, a sack in his second, and has earned the trust of defensive coordinator Dennis Allen in short order. When further injuries and struggles reached the Bears' secondary, it was Muhammad getting an increased look. And while the eye test has shown us plenty in the wake of some splash plays, the analytics side of things loves him, too.
We're not necessarily talking about Pro Football Focus in this case. The outlet has him ranked close to the middle of the pack among corners, sitting 68th among 103 at the position in his overall grade (55.9), 62nd in coverage
(57.0), and 92nd in run defense (43.8).
It was already wise to take PFF's grades with a grain of salt considering where it's put a couple of Bears quarterbacks on separate occasions this year, but the actual data loves what Muhammad has turned in thus far in his rookie campaign.
Among all qualifying defenders, Muhammad's completion percentage when targeted is just 44.4 percent. That ranks 27th among a group with 250 defenders listed. He's also well above (or, as it were, below) the 62.1 percent league average completion percentage. Opposing quarterbacks have a rating of just 43.5 when targeting Muhammad, which is the 17th-best figure.
There are still areas in which Muhammad can improve; his 14.9 yards-per-completion ranks only 175th, and a 13.3 percent missed tackle rate have him closer to the bottom than the top of the league. But the coverage figures are far more impressive than PFF would give him credit for, especially considering that his 18 targets thus far rank toward the top of the league among defenders.
Beyond the results when targeted, Muhammad has a couple of other notable numbers working in his favor. His 1.50 splash plays per game sit in the 87th percentile, and his 0.75 passes defended per game are in the 91st. His two quarterback hits on the year also put him in league with a number of linebackers and edge rushers on the leaderboard.
Again, it's not been a perfect start for Muhammad, and we're still working within a small sample as far as numbers like splash plays or passes defended go. But the things that happen beyond the box score are largely working in his favor, which should hardly be a surprise given how much game time he's seen this early on. He's a key piece of a defense that has proven to be much better than advertised over the past three weeks.
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This article originally appeared on Bears Wire: Bears rookie DB Malik Muhammad is winning early in the analytics game
