Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Brandon Boykin is headed into the last year of his contract. After being drafted by Philly in the fourth round of the 2012 draft, Boykin signed a deal that totaled $2,505,468 in salary over four seasons.
In 2015, he'll have a cap hit of $1,643,367, making him the 70th-highest paid corner in the NFL. Boykin has designs on making more than that in the future, as he well should, considering his level of play since he entered the league.
"Everybody knows it's the last year of my contract," Boykin said, per Philly.com. "And he (Chip Kelly) said, 'I'm looking for you to compete for that outside spot.' So that's what he said. He's the coach, he's a man of his word and I'm going to hold him accountable to that just like he does us.
"I'm going to go out there and ball and do what I'm supposed to do and then once camp hits we'll see who outperforms whoever."
Boykin was Philadelphia's most effective cornerback last season, and probably the season before as well, but for the most part, he's been stuck in the slot, not moving to the outside all that much. He's kind of been pigeonholed as a slot guy due to his height. (He's 5-foot-10)
"I think here they have certain requirements. I think we should be honest and call it what it is," Boykin said. "Maybe they want a taller guy to be outside and that's what their preference is just to start the standard. And I'm sure there are some exceptions. There's a reason why I'm still here."
Boykin's one of just 11 cornerbacks to play at least 50 percent of his team's snaps in the slot in each of the last two seasons. Based on his performance there, Boykin feels he's the best slot corner in the league.
"It's two years running with this story and it's getting real old for me, and I'm just going to continue to be the best slot in the NFL," Boykin said. "I feel like I am. I feel like my statistics show that and that's what I'm focused on." How do those statistics stack up against those other 10 slot-heavy corners? Really, really well, according to the data compiled by Pro Football Focus.
| Slot Corners | ||||||
| Player | Targets | Receptions | Yards | TD | INT | QB Rating |
| Chris Harris | 88 | 56 | 577 | 0 | 4 | 63.5 |
| Brandon Boykin | 139 | 85 | 1,011 | 2 | 7 | 67.1 |
| Jimmy Wilson | 90 | 59 | 657 | 2 | 2 | 85.3 |
| Nickell Robey | 107 | 65 | 763 | 3 | 1 | 87.9 |
| Darius Butler | 114 | 69 | 876 | 4 | 2 | 88.9 |
| Orlando Scandrick | 107 | 77 | 729 | 3 | 2 | 91.2 |
| Captain Munnerlyn | 127 | 89 | 918 | 3 | 2 | 91.9 |
| Brice McCain | 88 | 56 | 602 | 4 | 1 | 94.0 |
| Buster Skrine | 112 | 71 | 699 | 9 | 3 | 96.5 |
| Josh Wilson | 100 | 73 | 852 | 4 | 2 | 103.4 |
| Leonard Johnson | 95 | 70 | 822 | 7 | 2 | 115.3 |
The Broncos' Chris Harris is the only corner in the group to hold opposing quarterbacks to a lower passer rating than Boykin over the last two years, and Boykin leads the group with seven interceptions in the slot, as many as the next two highest pick-snarers (Harris and Buster Skrine) combined.
If we subtract the slot numbers from the total number of passes directed at Boykin over the last two years, we can also get an idea of how he's performed outside the slot. In very limited opportunities, he hasn't been quite as strong; quarterbacks are 9-16 for 95 yards and a touchdown throwing at Boykin when he works on the perimeter over the last two years. The sample size is so much smaller than his slot work that it's tough to draw a meaningful conclusion from those numbers, though, and Boykin just wants a chance to show what he can do out there, anyway.