Kansas City Chiefs: Can Steven Nelson Take The Next Step In 2018

The Kansas City Chiefs secondary has been in question most of the offseason. Steven Nelson could be a player to watch as he tries to take the next step.

The Kansas City Chiefs have had an interesting offseason that have many fans questioning what general manager Brett Veach is thinking. After such a poor performance from the defensive side of the ball in 2017, the team has seen a significant overhaul of players this offseason. The area that many fans believe didn’t see enough attention is the cornerback group.

Kansas City traded away their five-year starting quarterback Alex Smith to the Washington Redskins which brought cornerback Kendall Fuller over. The Chiefs then made a trade with the Los Angeles Rams to relieve themselves of Marcus Peters, arguably the biggest shutdown cornerback in the league over the last three seasons.

Since then, addressing the cornerback position has been limited. Kansas City signed former Oakland cornerback David Amerson this offseason, but fans are not even close to comfortable with what he brings to the table. Of course, much of the stress revolves around losing Peters, and every move the Chiefs make will be compared to Peters abilities.

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While this isn’t fair, that’s how fans will look at it. Kendall Fuller will take over the number one cornerback position in 2018. While he might not be Marcus Peters, he’s no cornerback to slouch on. He will also play most of his time in the slot position.

Fans are still in belief that the left side of the defense is where the top cornerback should always be covering. Peters stayed there most of his three seasons with the Chiefs. However, offenses have grown and are more willing to move around their top receivers. Most teams put their top receivers in the slot more often than fans might realize.

Regardless of Fuller and Amerson, one cornerback who received the raw end of the deal last season was Steven Nelson. After being placed on Injured Reserve before the regular season, Nelson missed seven games to start the 2017 season. When he returned, fans were expecting him to be the savior for the entire defense.

Another unfair expectation. Nelson struggled in his first couple of games but went on to play a substantial role down the final stretch of the season. Given that the defense still struggled, fans have forgotten about Nelson’s 2016 performance and put a great deal of the blame from last year on his shoulders.

In 2016, Nelson was the second cornerback to Marcus Peters. When the team was in base packages, Nelson played opposite Peters. He then slid inside to the nickel position when the team brought in a third cornerback. During that 2016 campaign, Nelson hauled in 16 pass deflections, 64 tackles, and two fumble recoveries.

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Now Nelson is entering a contract season with the Chiefs with everything to prove. When adding together the contract season and coming off an injury-ridden season, Nelson could be a very dangerous player for the Chiefs defense. He has shown his hard work during training camp in St. Joseph.

Since training camp began, Nelson has hauled in seven interceptions. That could be the most out of any camp around the league. While we talked about how the interceptions are not a concern for Patrick Mahomes, it could be the same for cornerbacks as it is just practice. However, there is more to it from the cornerback position.

Mahomes is testing the offense and getting a feel for what he can and cannot get away with before the season starts. It’s the perfect time to take those chances and see what each playmaker can do. When it comes to the cornerback position, we have to look at it a bit differently.

Nelson has been playing against some of the top receiving corps in the NFL during training camp. Going up against some of the best will only make Nelson and the rest of the Chiefs cornerbacks better come regular season games. Nelson has done a great job at positioning himself against these playmakers to make plays on the ball.

While he has seven interceptions so far in training camp, Nelson has yet to take one away in a regular season game. It’s the stat that sticks out the most when looking at his career. If Nelson continues the aggressive playstyle that he has shown in camp, it shouldn’t be long before he picks one off that truly matters.

Nelson will be asked to do more for the Chiefs defense without Marcus Peters this season. Luckily, we had gotten a chance to look at Nelson without Peters on the field when Peters was suspended for the game against the Oakland Raiders this past season. Surprisingly enough, it was Nelson’s best game of the season. He only allowed one completion for ten yards the entire game.

Down the final stretch of the 2017 season, including the Raiders game, defensive coordinator Bob Sutton allowed Nelson to play a more aggressive role. Allowing him to play in more press man-coverage schemes, Nelson showed his physicality and was successful most of the time. Sure, there were wide receivers that gave him trouble, but even Peters had receivers that he struggled against.

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If Nelson continues to play aggressive and physical as he has at training camp, he could be looking for a major deal come the 2019 offseason. While most are expecting Kendall Fuller to lead the cornerbacks in interceptions, we could see Nelson taking a major step forward this season to lead the room.

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