Kansas City Chiefs: Cornerback depth getting worrisome

With the Kansas City Chiefs already running thin at the position, L’Jarius Sneed went down with a collarbone injury and now the depth is getting worrisome.

The cornerback position was already one that many viewed as one of the more shaky position groups on the Kansas City Chiefs roster coming into the season. Bashaud Breeland‘s offseason suspension made the margin for error early in the season very slim and it’s becoming slimmer.

Without Breeland, the Chiefs opened up with fourth round rookie L’Jarius Sneed needing to step up and contribute quickly. To the pleasant surprise of Chiefs Kingdom, Sneed has far surpassed expectations. Going into Week 3, he was the league leader in interceptions, but unfortunately was injured diving for what would’ve been his third pick of the year.

The injury has since been reported as a collarbone break and Sneed was placed on IR. Now a rookie cornerback suffering a relatively short-term injury doesn’t seem like anything to be too worried about, so to understand why this is a big deal we will back up to Week 1.

Ahead of the first game of the season, the second cornerback spot was a question mark, but KC was at least returning their CB1 from last season, Charvarius Ward, to hopefully lock down one side of the field. However, the cornerback group quickly became a concern when Ward broke his hand in Week 1.

Fortunately for the Chiefs, Sneed was able to step in and become a quality corner early on – prior to his injury- and they were able to have Ward return (at least in some fashion) just as Sneed went down during Week 3, so they have been able to keep at least one solid corner on the field at all times.

Heading into Week 4 with a one-handed Charvarius Ward as the only corner option that Chiefs Kingdom can be truly confident about is concerning. As seen in the tweet below, the Chiefs are left with a very shallow and unexperienced group behind Ward that they will look to to hold their own against the Patriots.

Ward is solid, but again, is playing with a cast on one hand, so you may not be as confident in him as usual. Behind him, you have a primarily slot corner and a special teamer with a combined four career starts in Rashad Fenton and Antonio Hamilton respectively. The Chiefs may have to hope to have another rookie breakout in BoPete Keyes, who will likely be in his first-ever NFL game on Sunday.

There are a few solid veteran free agent cornerback options out there if the Chiefs wanted to go that route, including Prince Amukamara and Trumaine Johnson, but it appears at this point that they are content to stay put. That means the Chiefs will go into Week 4 with only the four corners discussed above or they also have Chris Lammons, who they could elevate from the practice squad for additional depth.

As worrisome as the current group is, if they can make it through one more week they will get Breeland back and at least have last year’s top two corners available to play. It is okay to be concerned at the moment, but just know that better days are near.

What do y’all think? Is it smart for the Kansas City Chiefs to stay put and ride it out with the current cornerback group? Will they be able to make it through a rough Week 4? Let us know your thoughts!