Kansas City Chiefs: It’s too early to panic about the cornerbacks
The Kansas City Chiefs seem to be content with what they have at the cornerback position despite the question marks. Is it too early for fans to panic?
The Kansas City Chiefs have done a complete overhaul on defense, but the majority of that overhaul comes at the cornerback position. Such an overhaul that the four of the top five cornerbacks when looking at total snaps last season are not on the roster anymore. With plenty of new faces, but just as many question marks, fans tend to be worried about the position group.
Shutdown cornerback Marcus Peters was traded shortly after the team made a deal with the Washington Redskins to bring over cornerback Kendall Fuller. Fans had a brief moment of peace when thinking the two starting cornerbacks would be Peters and Fuller. Then came the trading of Peters to the Los Angeles Rams.
Other names that left Kansas City this offseason are players like Terrance Mitchell who signed with the Cleveland Browns, Kenneth Acker who is now with the Indianapolis Colts, and Phillip Gaines who went to the Buffalo Bills. The player that the Chiefs were so desperate and signed late in the season, veteran cornerback Darrelle Revis, was also released during the offseason.
Without many names that fans know, it’s not hard to figure out why many are panicking. The Chiefs secondary struggled to cover just about anybody last season which was a big reason that we saw outside linebacker Justin Houston dropping into coverage so often. That and there was a lack of pass rush as well.
After ranking in the top ten for four seasons in points allowed per game, and top five for three seasons, the Chiefs defense ranked 15th in 2017. Much of that fall fell on the secondary. Because Peters was the only reliable cornerback on the field during that dreadful showing last season and is now gone has fans rightfully worried.
Minimal signings during the offseason, a lack of attention in the 2018 NFL Draft, and skipping on two cornerbacks in the Supplemental Draft has fans confused. It seems that the Chiefs are higher feel for their group of cornerbacks than fans do. Let’s take a look at what they do have on the roster.