Meet Trevon Hartfield, the newest Chiefs cornerback
By Matt Conner
The Kansas City Chiefs cut cornerback Stanley Jean-Baptiste so they could make room for newly signed cornerback Trevon Hartfield.
On Thursday, the Kansas City Chiefs announced a few moves, including a swap of players in the secondary. The biggest name in the bunch was the release of former New Orleans Saints cornerback Stanley Jean-Baptiste, an interesting name that surfaced this offseason with the Chiefs after fighting for a chance in the NFL for the last three seasons. That experiment, however, is over as the Chiefs have decided instead to go with Trevon Hartfield.
While Jean-Baptiste received the lion’s share of attention as a bust of a former second round pick, Hartfield is himself an interesting addition to the team—a former small school prospect who’s talented enough to catch on with the fringes of various teams yet still hasn’t found his opportunity to show his stuff.
The 6’0, 195 lb. cornerback attended Southwestern Oklahoma State University and enjoyed a nice senior season. He totaled 72 tackles, 2.5 of them for a loss and displayed a nose for the ball with 5 interceptions and 20 passes broken up. He also forced two fumbles. Hartfield also has some special teams experience, including returning kicks, as he had 10 returns for an average of 26.4 yards during his final season.
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Hartfield entered the NFL last year as an undrafted free agent with the Arizona Cardinals and made it all the way through training camp before being cut right before the regular season. He landed on the Cards’ practice squad and stayed there the entire season and was even promoted to the active roster in December. However, the team decided to part ways in May. The Tennessee Titans signed him soon thereafter but released him earlier in June. Then Dorsey made his move, swapping Hartfield for Jean-Baptiste.
Unfortunately for Hartfield, the coaching staff has gotten the chance to know several of his colleagues in organized team activities, rookie minicamp and mandatory minicamp through the last several weeks. As the newest member of the roster, he’s got a quick learning curve to dive into the playbook and ingratiate himself with the others to stand out for a final roster spot. That said, general manager John Dorsey signed Hartfield for a reason and the Chiefs coaches will do the work of checking out what he’s capable of before any final decisions are made.