Kansas City Chiefs: Cornerbacks Group Is Improved From Last Season

The Kansas City Chiefs did little to address the cornerback position this offseason. However, the group is an upgrade of what they had Week One of 2017.

The Kansas City Chiefs are entering the 2018 regular season with the same concern as they had last season. Outside of Marcus Peters last season, the team had nothing behind him when entering the 2017 Week 1 game against the New England Patriots. While they failed to properly address the issue this offseason, in my opinion, they are still better than what they had to begin last season.

When Kansas City traveled to New England for the NFL opener, Marcus Peters was the only cornerback on the roster worth noting. Given that the Chiefs and most of the league deploy three cornerbacks 70% of the time roughly, that’s not a good situation to be in when you’re taking on the defending champs on the road.

Even with the lack of talent in the cornerback group, Kansas City was able to pull off an upset and win big against the Patriots. Not only that, but the team started off hot winning it’s first five games against some top offenses. We all look at the tough schedule that Kansas City will face in the first quarter of the season, but we forget how tough the schedule was to start last season with worse options.

In 2017, the Chiefs won five straight games beating the Patriots, Eagles, Chargers, Redskins, and the Texans. It wasn’t until Week 6 that the team took their first loss, and that loss wasn’t due to points given up by the defense. In that game against the Steelers, the defense gave up 19 points. It was the offense that failed to produce.

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Let’s take a look at the cornerbacks that the team started with last season. Marcus Peters, Phillip Gaines, Terrance Mitchell/ Kenneth Acker took almost all of the snaps during the first seven weeks of the season. Steven Nelson was on Injured Reserve until the game against the Denver Broncos in Week 8. When he did return, he wasn’t back to game shape and struggled for the first few games.

As Kansas City travels to Los Angeles this weekend to kick off the regular season, they will be sending out Kendall Fuller, Steven Nelson, and Orlando Scandrick as the starters. It’s a relief that the team actually saw the writing on the wall and dropped David Amerson. Fuller was acquired in the trade sending Alex Smith to Washington this offseason.

Nelson enters the season healthy. While he suffered a concussion in Week 2 of the preseason, he has been back with the team in practice and ready to go for Sunday afternoon. Scandrick was a late transaction after being dropped by the Redskins midway through the preseason. While he’s on a decline as he enters the 10th season of his career, I still feel that he is at least an average starter.

Even when you look at the backups to the Chiefs cornerbacks, the team seems to at least have more potential. In 2017, the two cornerbacks that were backing up the starters were Kenneth Acker and Keith Reaser. This season, the team is holding onto two rookies in sixth-round pick Tremon Smith and UDFA acquired in a trade with the Dallas Cowboys, Charvarious Ward. UDFA rookie cornerback Arrion Springs has signed to the practice squad.

Even if you want to look at the later part of the 2017 season, the cornerback situation has improved. The only difference was adding the aged veteran cornerback Darrelle Revis late in the season. I would even take Scandrick over him honestly. In the last four games of the season when the team got back on track, Kansas City only allowed more than 20 points once which was against the Denver Broncos when the starters were benched.

Holding the Oakland Raiders to 15 points, the Los Angeles Chargers who were on a huge win streak with a dominating offense only scored 13, and the Miami Dolphins were also head to 13 points. The team has shown that they can play well with even sloppy cornerback play, but overall, I think the cornerback position while not addressed as aggressively as it should have been, is better than last seasons roster.

Add in the fact that the front seven of the defense has seen a massive overhaul in upgraded talent; I feel better about the defense than I did going into the playoffs last season. If the Chiefs can find a way to plug the holes in the running game with their new inside linebacker and defensive linemen and get after the passer with Justin Houston fully healthy while also having help from anyone outside of Frank Zombo, it should be a better season.

I’m not ready to be entirely optimistic about this defense and coordinator Bob Sutton, but there is some reason to have some hope when it comes to that side of the ball. Let’s not forget that the Chargers have the same offensive weapons as they’ve had the last couple of seasons and haven’t been able to put up numbers against the Chiefs. Combining the two games against Los Angeles last season, the defense gave up 23 points.

Head coach Andy Reid and defensive coordinator Bob Sutton seem to have the Chargers number. Winning the last eight straight games against their divisional opponent is not something to forget about. It’s not big news for the Chargers to begin the season as the AFC West favorite, and Week 1 the Chiefs will have the opportunity to change everyone’s minds once again.

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