Morris Claiborne and why coaches don't automatically deserve respect

As I'm sure has been discussed here, Morris Claiborne is having a career year. In fact, the much maligned former top 10 pick is currently rated as the #1 corner in the league based on advanced metrics through five weeks. Now the narrative in these types of scenarios is always "contract year", "player finally learning the game", etc. In Claiborne's case a big part of the narrative is that he's "finally healthy".

Now while it's true Claiborne has had some injury issues, the fact is he was not good when healthy save a few moments here and there. Out of college Claiborne was considered almost a sure thing, a guy so sound I college that at worst he'd be a good starting NFL corner. How then was it he was rated one of the worst corners in football for most of his first four years, despite clearly having the ability we're seeing now?

The correct answer is simple: He was woefully, pitifully misused by professional coaches. You see, Rod Marinelli is a base cover two coach. Corners play zone over 70% of the time in his scheme. He insisted on placing Claiborne, an excellent man corner, in a position he was both unfamiliar with and not especially skilled at playing. Claiborne played man almost exclusively at LSU. All of his excellent film was of him playing man. All his scouting reports noted his superiority as a man corner. Any fan with a solid knowledge of the game could see this. Knowledgable Cowboys fans have been questioning this his whole career. Finally, in camp this year, Marinelli and the Cowboys staff said "You go man this guy up and don't let him catch the ball". The result? Claiborne went from playing 70% zone to nearly 80% man this year, and lo and behold he's the best man corner in football now.

Now keep in mind, Marinelli isn't some bum. He's well respected and considered one of the best DCs in the league. However, it took him FOUR YEARS to finally place Claiborne in the position that OBVIOUSLY would allow him to succeed.

What is whol point of this post? The next time you see a run of the mill fan say something like "Well if you think you're so smart why don't you go coach" or "You really think you now better than a professional coach", tell them to pound sand. Coaches, even good ones, regularly do stupid shite often for years and yes, sometimes smart observers DO know better. Thousands of fans knew better regarding Claiborne for years, and they were all right and a well respected DC was wrong. There are literally hundreds of example every year and dozens every week. The bottom line is coaches often really aren't all that much smarter than anyone else with a knowledge of the game on an individual issue by issue basis.