Kansas City Chiefs: Rookie report card for 2019 season

With the Chiefs’ third-round pick, they selected Khalen Saunders out of Western Illinois. Of the first three picks, Saunders was probably the biggest disappointment, but he was still fine.

Saunders was an athletic freak in college and hopes were high for him. He was also from a smaller school, so maybe hopes were a little too high considering where he played his college ball at. That being said, he did show up in the run defense when on the field, totaling 22 tackles and a sack in 12 regular-season games.

That isn’t bad considering he only played in 27% of the Chiefs total defensive snaps. Fans should have high hopes for him in 2020 considering that Chris Jones had an extremely similar stat line as a rookie.

If the Chiefs are unable to re-sign Jones, Saunders could take over that role, but obviously we shouldn’t expect him to be that kind of player. The future is bright for the 23-year old and another year in the system is only going to help. For now though, Khalen Saunders is a solid C student.

The Kansas City Chiefs didn’t have another pick until the sixth round where they selected Rashad Fenton out of South Carolina. It was a bit surprising that the Chiefs had waited until the sixth round to take a cornerback, especially since they were in desperate need for one.

Not many people expected Fenton to be a big time play maker for this team outside of special teams maybe, but he was thrust into a heavy role in sub-packages after Kendall Fuller went down with an injury.

Fenton certainly wasn’t a liability on the field and considering how badly he graded out at the combine, this pick turned out to be very, very good. Obviously, grading a sixth round pick as the same as a first, second or third rounder isn’t fair since these are largely supposed to be either backups or special teams players.

The Chiefs got a lot out of Fenton, even in the limited snaps he did play (15% on defense and 31% on special teams) and no one thought that’d be the case back in April.

With the Chiefs defensive backfield being largely unknown at corner since both Bashaud Breeland and Fuller are free agents, Rashad Fenton could be a vital piece either outside or in the slot depending on what happens. That is a topic for another day since a lot can happen between now and free agency.