Who should be the Kansas City Chiefs number two cornerback?
Steven Nelson
The guy that doesn’t get enough credit when it comes to the improved cornerback play down the stretch last season is Steven Nelson. I would go so far as to say that the average Chiefs fan thinks that Terrance Mitchell was the starter opposite Marcus Peters and Nelson was “just the slot corner”. However, it was Nelson that played almost every snap on defense during that stretch. He was actually the starter opposite Peters and then would move inside whenever the Chiefs added a third corner. It was then that Mitchell would come in and play on the outside, but he only played about two thirds of the defensive snaps.
Since the Chiefs played with three corners on the field on more snaps than they did with just two, it’s easy to understand why the fans view Mitchell as the starter opposite Peters, but if the Chiefs truly felt he was the better player than Nelson, then they would have started him and played Nelson strictly as a nickel corner. The fact that they didn’t proves that they viewed Nelson as their number two corner after Peters. That has to mean something going into the 2017 season.
The argument for Nelson starting is this: He’s the most experienced corner on the roster. He now is entering his third offseason with the Chiefs. He plays the physical style that Kansas City looks for in their corners. He’s not afraid to mix it up on the inside or outside. Typically you don’t see press corners that are only 5-foot-10 inches tall, but Nelson can pull it off. You can make an argument that his physical style is better suited on the outside, and that he lacks the elite change of direction to keep up with some of the slot receivers on the inside.
The argument against Nelson starting on the outside is that he is 5-foot-10 inches tall. He simply doesn’t have the size to shut down receivers that are well over six feet tall. His size definitely makes him a better fit for playing in the slot. It will be interesting to see if the Chiefs keep him as the starter on the outside when only two corners are on the field or if they will have him focus solely on the slot position this offseason.
Next up, Terrance Mitchell.