Kansas City Chiefs: Midterm grades for 2019 season

Secondary

He’s been fine when he’s played, but Kendall Fuller has missed the past two games with a thumb fracture.

Bashaud Breeland had a game to immediately forget against the Texans and then didn’t record a single statistic in the 30-6 victory over the Broncos. His defensive snap count continues trending downward, from 100% in Week 5 to a low of 61% in Week 8.

Charvarius Ward‘s collected 21 tackles in the past four games as his snap-count has increased from 70% to 100%. In that time, he has one interception (against Houston) and three passes defended.

Another rookie, Rashad Fenton’s played sparingly this year, but all of his defensive action has come in the past four games. He played over half the snaps in the win against Denver, collecting four total tackles.

Since returning from a four-game suspension to start the season, the veteran Morris Claiborne has done very little for the Chiefs. He’s yet to crack 40% of the defensive snaps in any one game.

Tyrann Mathieu appears to be a team leader, which is great. He had an interception against Indianapolis before collecting ten tackles against Houston. Against Green Bay, he pressured Rodgers on multiple occasions. He’s doing it all in his first year with Kansas City.

Against the Texans, he grabbed his first-career interception. Overall, he’s been a steady presence among the safeties in his rookie season. Nothing flashy, but also nothing grotesque.

He’s played more the past two games when the defense has taken its (mini) leap. COINCIDENCE???

Probably.