Among the many stars in Super Bowl XLIX, two in particular stand out on the defensive side of the ball, New England's Darrelle Revis and Seattle's Richard Sherman.
Both star cornerbacks have earned their league-wide praise from coaches, teammates and competitors for their obvious shutdown corner skills. Likely watching Sunday's game will be a fellow defensive star, Falcons cornerback Desmond Trufant, who believes he could be mentioned in the same breath as the two.
"I'm always confident," Trufant said. "To be a corner, you have to be like that. You're on an island, out there by yourself most of the time, going against some great competition. You just have to believe that you're the best out there and nobody can phase you."
During the 2014 regular season, the star cornerbacks each had productive and comparable campaigns:
Trufant - 16 games, 53 tackles, 8 assists, 16 PBUs, 3 INTs, and 1 fumble recovery
Revis - 16 games, 43 tackles, 6 assists, 16 PBUs, 2 INTs, 1 forced fumble and 1 fumble recovery
Sherman - 16 games, 50 tackles, 14 assists, 11 PBUs, 4 INTs and 1 forced fumble
Player comparisons aside, Trufant is pleased with the path he's on as a star cornerback, and he's moving forward this offseason to be even better in 2015.
"I think I'm doing pretty good," Trufant said. "I'm on a real solid pace and trying to be very consistent. My talent is flashing. I've missed some opportunities over my two years, footballs I could have caught and things like that, but overall, I'm definitely in a good spot."
