Kansas City Chiefs Scouting Report: Karl Joseph

The Kansas City Chiefs’ secondary is in need of an upgrade. Could the team decide to use one of its early round picks on a safety or a cornerback?

The 2016 NFL Draft begins this Thursday evening, and while the KC Chiefs seemingly already have their two starting safeties, would it be too crazy for them to consider drafting one early on? I certainly don’t think so.

If Kansas City does want to add another body to the secondary, Karl Joseph out of West Virginia would be a fine option.

Joseph was on pace to have his best season of his college career in 2015, but a knee injury took him out after only four games.

During those four games, however, Joseph recorded 20 tackles, five interceptions, and one sack. He finished off his four-year career at West Virginia with 274 tackles (including 104 during his freshman year in 2012), nine interceptions, seven defended passes, three forced fumbles, and two sacks.

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The knee injury that Karl Joseph sustained last season could be worrisome to teams interested in drafting him, but Chase Goodbread of NFL.com reported early this month that the young Mountaineer should be ready for training camp. Per Goodbread’s article,

"“I’m on schedule — I think I’m ahead of schedule right now. Dr. Andrews said I’m ahead of schedule and I look good, so I’ll be ready by training camp,”"

With the Chiefs having Eric Berry and Ron Parker slated to be the starting safeties in Kansas City, would drafting Karl Joseph make sense? He has the potential to be a first round pick, but the injury could be something that scares a good amount of teams off.

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Joseph’s ability to intercept the ball is appealing for sure. He had a whopping five interceptions in only four games last season, which will catch the eye of any team. CBS Sports notes that Joseph has quick reflexes and is one of the most physical players entering the draft.

CBS Sports also says that Joseph doesn’t have ideal size to be an NFL safety and has issues in the open field sometimes. Of course, the injury is listed as a weakness for Joseph as well, but we already covered that.

Truthfully, if the Kansas City Chiefs are going to address the secondary early on, it might be better to go with a cornerback. Sean Smith bolted for Oakland, and while Marcus Peters showed a lot of promise during his rookie year, there’s always the dreaded sophomore slump in professional sports. That, and we’re not sure how well Phillip Gaines will come back from his ACL surgery last season.

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Would you want to see the KC Chiefs select Karl Joseph or a safety in general?

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