The Kansas City Chiefs head into their bye week licking their wounds after disappointingly falling to the Buffalo Bills, followed by a quiet trade deadline. Although Chiefs Kingdom has become accustomed to losing to the Bills in the regular season, the Week 9 meeting reinforced some of the Chiefs' defensive weaknesses.
Most notably, Kansas City's lack of pass rush.
The Chiefs ended Sunday's loss with 12 total quarterback pressures and four sacks, according to Pro Football Focus. Conversely, Buffalo tallied four sacks and 28 QB pressures. Despite the sack production being the same, the Bills were able to affect the quarterback more frequently, which led to their victory.
That said, part of the reason the Chiefs' pass rush has struggled this season is because of the way they allocated their cap space this offseason. In particular, the signing of cornerback Kristian Fulton to a two-year $20 million contract. Fulton has barely played this season, making his contract look like a waste of money.
Kristian Fulton's Is Hurting Chiefs on the Field, in the Front Office
The 27-year-old came to Kansas City with an extensive injury history, so his sustaining an injury early with the Chiefs wasn't a shock. Moreover, some in Chiefs Kingdom were wary of the production the team would get from Fulton, who had never tallied a PFF coverage grade better than 66.6 during his time with the Los Angeles Chargers and Tennessee Titans.
For reference, his grade sits at 58.5 amid his limited action this season.
So far this season, Fulton has only taken 17 defensive snaps at cornerback for the Chiefs, with each opportunity coming within the first two weeks of the season. Unfortunately, the 27-year-old suffered an ankle injury early in their Week 2 game against the Philadelphia Eagles and hasn't seen the field since.
Though Fukton did miss three games with said ankle injury, he has been a healthy inactive since Week 6. He was benched for rookie CB Nohl Williams, who did an outstanding job filling in for him while he was out with the injury. Despite some Chiefs fans being optimistic for Fulton when the team signed him, no one is exactly surprised by these developments.
Nonetheless, the fact that Fulton is currently sitting on the bench means he is a waste of money. If Kansas City hadn't signed Fulton or backup tackle Jaylon Moore to a two-year $30 million contract, they could have had money to sign a premier defensive lineman, or even pull off a major trade deadline blockbuster. Even if the duo turns things around, the damage might already be done.
Milton Williams and Josh Sweat were two big names in free agency this past offseason. Though both received big four-year deals, the money saved by avoiding signing Fulton and Moore could have helped get a deal done for one of the two.
Instead, what's done is done at this point, and it'll be interesting to see if the Chiefs will eventually give Fulton a chance or move on from him at the next opportunity.