Kansas City Chiefs: Price not right for cornerback at trade deadline
By John McCarty
Depth is vital at this level, and the Kansas City Chiefs are in short supply.
If you come across a Chiefs fan that tells you roster depth isn’t important or isn’t a vital component of winning in the NFL, kindly direct them to the Chiefs defeat to the Colts this past Sunday night, drop the mic and walk away.
The loss can be pegged almost squarely on issues with depth.
Yes, the Chiefs suffered a plethora of injuries during the game that greatly hindered their ability to field a strong team. A hobbled Patrick Mahomes certainly didn’t help the situation.
It should be pointed out, the Colts came into the game without either of their starting safeties and linebacker. And yes, despite all the injuries, the Chiefs defense still only surrendered 19 points.
However, anyone feel good about the idea of Ryan Hunter (yes, he has since been released) and Cam Erving protecting the blindside of Patrick Mahomes? At one point Sunday night, and the broadcast crew pointed this out, the Chiefs had four former Cleveland Browns along their offensive front. Mitchell Schwartz was a great free agent pickup regardless of where he previously played, but the other three, Ervin, Hunter and center Austin Reiter were all castoffs from the Browns.
Behind the trio of Hill, Watkins and Robinson is undrafted Byron Pringle and De’Anthony Thomas, who continues to be employed by this team for reasons no one understands. With Robinson a free agent after this season and Watkins likely not back with the Chiefs after this season, there is limited depth at wide receiver.
In short, there are a lot of positions, there are a lot of areas in the future that are going to need to be addressed, and with limited cap room (what happens when our quarterback makes enough to buy an island?) and other big contracts and no way of offsetting the difference.