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CLE Cleveland Browns · WR· #11

Malachi Corley

Age
24
Height
5'11"
Weight
215 lbs
College
Western Kentucky
Drafted
2024, No. 65 overall (NYJ)
Experience
3rd NFL season
Compare with another playerKick returners leaderboard

43

Overall grade

42nd of 53 kick returners

Well below typical

below average; 50 is average

Grades updated Rechecked every few hours on game days

The read

Malachi grades below average among kick returners so far, with no number far from the middle.

Lately he is playing better. EPA per return is +0.26 over the last 2 games (4 returns), against −0.24 before that. A few plays could easily explain this. Worth watching, not worth believing yet.

Written from his numbers, not from film. 5 games are behind the season figures.

How he stacks up

Every graded stat at a glance, against all the kick returners in the league.

  • Yards per return25.9 yds30th of 53small sample
  • EPA per return−0.0849th of 53small sample

Left is the worst at his job, right is the best, and the line down the middle is average. The bubble is his percentile: 90 means better than nine in ten qualifying kick returners. Faded bars are still small samples.

How he has progressed

Where he has ranked among kick returners after each week, and every game behind it.

WorstMiddleBestrecent12345Week 2: 77th percentileWeek 3: 4th percentileWeek 4: 4th percentileWeek 5: 8th percentile8th

Season rank slipped: 77th to 8th percentile since Wk 2.

The line is his season-to-date rank among players at his position after each week, from 100 (the best) to 0 (the worst). It rises when he passes other players, not when he has one big game. Early weeks are noisier because fewer plays are behind them. The shaded weeks are the recent stretch.

EPA per return game by game
WeekOpponentThat gamereturnsSeason rank after
1vs JAX+0.801–
2vs TB+0.37477th pct
3vs CAR−1.4134th pct
4vs PIT+0.4414th pct
5vs NYJ+0.2038th pct

One game is a small sample: a single stat over 2 returns can swing on a handful of plays. Shaded rows are the recent stretch.

The numbers, in context

Each one against every kick returner with at least 5 returns. Right on the strip is better.

EPA per return

Among the weakest

−0.08

49th of 53 kick returners · bottom 10%

Expected points added: how many points the play added to (or took from) the offense's scoring chances, given the down, the distance and the field position. From his team's side, for each kickoff he returns.

The box score: Return average ignores the starting field position the team would have had anyway.

Does it show up in winning? Across 82 games league-wide, teams won 54% of the time when their kick returner was in the best third on EPA per return, and 30% when he was in the worst third.

Last 2 games: +0.26 (4) vs −0.24 before+17.3grade points upLeaning that way

Small sample: could move a lot · 12 returns · true level likely −0.46 to +0.30

Yards per return

Typical

25.9 yds

30th of 53 kick returners · bottom 46%

Average yards per kickoff return.

The box score: This is the box score number.

Does it show up in winning? Across 82 games league-wide, teams won 63% of the time when their kick returner was in the best third on yards per return, and 30% when he was in the worst third.

Last 2 games: 26.8 yds (4) vs 25.5 yds before+4.9grade points upWithin the noise

Small sample: could move a lot · 12 returns · true level likely 21.6 yds to 30.2 yds

Game by game

Every game this season: how it ended for his team, how much he played, his box score, and the advanced numbers from that one game. One game is a small sample, so read the right-hand columns as a snapshot, not his level.

Malachi Corley game by game
GameResultRetYdsEPA/returnYds/return
Wk 1 vs JAXL 10–34134+0.8034.0 yds
Wk 2 vs TBW 23–19493+0.3723.3 yds
Wk 3 vs CARW 21–18377−1.4125.7 yds
Wk 4 vs PITW 27–24133+0.4433.0 yds
Wk 5 vs NYJL 12–17374+0.2024.7 yds

The box score

The traditional totals, with where each ranks among kick returners. A total rewards volume, which is why the advanced numbers above matter.

Malachi Corley box score totals
StatTotalRank
Returns129th of 53
Return yards31115th of 53

Players with a similar profile

The kick returners whose grades are closest to his across the same stats. Similar means similar numbers, not the same style of play.

Ranks are among players at the same job who have enough plays to be graded. Grades and rankings come from play-by-play, charting and snap-count data, so they cannot see blocking, route running or assignments. See how the grades work.

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Data: nflverse play-by-play, CC BY 4.0. Also FTN charting, Pro Football Reference advanced stats, snap counts and injury reports, all through nflverse. Calculations and charts by Raiders Rundown.

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