The Good: Even in his best seasons, Finnegan was most effective when sliding into the slot whenever it was possible. He is an incredibly rangy zone defender, a fine underneath tackler, a good pattern diagnostician and an effective blitzer: four reasons to keep him close to the line of scrimmage and facing the quarterback.
Finnegan looked very sharp in the Colts and Titans games between his two injuries. Despite the nickel demotion, Finnegan played multiple roles. He blitzed often, and he often raced down the seam to a deep zone after starting the play man-up on a slot receiver. Finnegan tackled Andrew Luck a few times on scrambles as an underneath zone defender, and picked off one Jake Locker pass that, frankly, was the typically inexplicable Jake Locker pass. The few times he lined up wide and covered receivers downfield, he showed that he still has the wheels to blanket Nate Washington-types.
Finnegan still hustles hard until the ends of plays and covers a ton of ground when racing around the field to put out fires. He cleaned up a 57-yard screen-and-run play in garbage time against the Colts on which he started on the opposite side of the field and probably ran about 90 yards through traffic to prevent the Colts from cutting their deficit to 23. Chris Johnson tried to pull a Marcus Allen highlight on a sweep to the right by cutting completely back to the left sideline; Finnegan was far downfield covering a clear-out post route, but he spotted Johnson's reverse and sprinted back to make a shoestring tackle for a short gain.
The Bad: Finnegan was always a hothead, and he committed several dumb penalties in the Cardinals game, including lunging at a player already on the ground and trying to body slam Larry Fitzgerald when well out of bounds. Coaches can live with a little over-aggression from a cornerback blanketing No. 1 receivers, but Finnegan looked like a too-slow, too-late defender taking out his frustrations.
At 5-foot-10, Finnegan always needed scrappiness and elite quickness to match up with big Michael Floyd-type receivers. Those traits no longer appear to be enough now that Finnegan has gotten older.
Finnegan's performance fluctuated wildly even during his prime years. Football Outsiders charting stats listed him as a liability one year (2010) and a league leader the next (2011). This should not be too surprising, since we are talking about a short, temperamental defender who has spent much of his career since 2008 on unsuccessful teams. Finnegan's performance is matchup, situation and mood dependent. Throw injuries and age into the mix, and you get the kind of player who is not worth a $10 million risk.
Bottom Line: On the other hand, you do get a player worth a one-year prove-it deal, with some escalators based on the number of snaps he plays or other factors. Finnegan settled down after that awful Cardinals game, and he appeared motivated, focused and still pretty fast during his midseason window of health. Finnegan could be a killer slot cornerback, or a No. 2 corner who slides into the slot, for a good team. A team like the Packers could insert him into the old Charles Woodson role, blitzing often and sitting in the hook zone waiting to cherry pick mistakes. Finnegan can be an excellent value for a team that knows what to expect, and how to use the player they are getting.
