Kansas City Chiefs: 3 things to watch vs Texans in week 1

2. Chiefs Corners vs  Texans Wide Receivers

I spent the last paragraph talking about how bad the Texans corner situation is, but let’s be honest, the Chiefs aren’t exactly sitting pretty there either. I would feel a lot more confident in this group if Beshaud Breeland wasn’t suspended, but as it stands now, the Chiefs have nothing but question marks after Charvarius Ward.

Ward is going to be fine, and I actually project him to take a step forward this year. After that, it appears as if the Chiefs are going to roll with young guys an see how they do. It appears that the team is seriously going to consider starting rookie 4th round pick L’Jarius Sneed opposite of Ward, with second year player Rashad Fenton manning the third cornerback spot, probably in the slot. That is going to be a fun experiment, sure, but one that could go wrong in a hurry.

Most people assume that because the Texans traded DeAndre Hopkins, their receivers are going to take a major step back this year. That might not be exactly the case. The Texans have Brandin Cooks, Willl Fuller V, Kenny Stills and Randle Cobb all ready to step in and make plays.

The question on this team isn’t talent, it is health. Cooks and Fuller are going to be very stressful to play against, because when healthy, the can fly with the best of them. Over the last five seasons, Cooks has only not hit 1,000 yards once, and that was last year due to injury. He may not be DeAndre Hopkins, but he is a true number one option that can really demand attention from a defense.

The saving grace for the Chiefs may be their safeties. Tyrann Mathieu and Juan Thornhill are both versatile enough to play corner, and with a veteran like Daniel Sorensen on the roster, the Chiefs will be able to deploy them in that way if the need arises.

Elite safety play behind shaky corners can also cover a lot of mistakes, so there won’t be as much pressure on the corners if they do make the mistakes inexperienced players often make.