The radical reconstruction of the Kansas City Chiefs secondary

Eric Berry has to wonder who his teammates even are these days as he looks around the roster at the rest of the Chiefs secondary.

If you look at a list of the Kansas City Chiefs transactions on paper all at once, it’s clear that general manager Brett Veach and the rest of his staff were concerned about a single area of the roster.

The Chiefs defense was a shell of its former self last season. After years of living among the NFL’s top defensive units in terms of total yards allowed, takeaways and other important categories, the defense fell apart. In fact, it was the team’s offense that ended up saving its season in 2017 and allowed them to claim consecutive division titles.

As the team retreated after yet another abysmal loss in the first round of the playoffs, a dissection behind closed doors apparently revealed the root of the defensive failures. It was not Bob Sutton, despite the public outcries against his further employment by the team. It was not the pass rush, despite needing Frank Zombo much more than any team should ever need Frank Zombo. It was not injuries or scheme or coach.

Brett Veach blamed the secondary.

No one will come out and say it. No one has scheduled a press conference this winter to throw specific names under the bus, to say, “You know what, this season would have been much more successful if [insert cornerback’s name here] would have stepped up as expected.” But actions speak louder than words, and the Chiefs are speaking loud and clear when it comes to the defensive backs on the roster.

“Everyone out!”

In December, the Kansas City Chiefs had 10 total defensive backs on their roster. Three of them remain. Three of 10. The Chiefs haven’t even been through the draft, so who knows if further moves will be made to clear some more money and talent off the books—think Dan Sorensen as a possibility.

Kenneth Acker? Find a new team.
Darrelle Revis? See ya.
Terrance Mitchell? Go find Dorsey.
Steven Terrell? It’s been nice.
Marcus Peters? Traded for circus peanuts.
Ron Parker? Released.
Phillip Gaines? You’re still here?

Seven players already have been jettisoned (or allowed to walk in free agency without any overtures to stay) from the team’s secondary. It’s a mass exodus that has left significant holes, yet Veach and company have made it clear that they’d rather deal with new faces learning a new playbook in hopes of not repeating the mistake of relying on all of those names for another year—yes, even Marcus Peters.

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Some level of turnover is natural in the game of football, and the Chiefs had plenty of players ready to hit free agency out of that group. Cap space (or the lack of it) further compounded the problem. There are reasons, to be sure, besides Brett Veach just wanting to clear the slate.

But make no mistake. If Veach wanted to keep any/all of these players, he could have. He signed an inside linebacker for $9 million per year, so yes, he could find the resources. Yet he didn’t. He wanted that clean slate even if he can technically blame it on Dorsey’s cap management or the “reality of free agency.” Those aren’t lies, per se, but they’re also not the truth.

The Chiefs just didn’t want those guys anymore.

The reconstruction is now underway. Kendall Fuller is the prized cornerback addition, arriving in the Alex Smith trade with the Washington Redskins. David Amerson is a nice one-year addition to plug the gap until younger players can be brought up into the system. Robert Golden was just signed to be the new Terrell, a good move given how valuable Terrell was late in the year as a special teams player and sub package option.

It will be interesting to see what Veach does with the remaining contestants.

Steven Nelson is the lone holdover among, but he’s also an unrestricted free agent in 2018, so it will be interesting to see if Veach simply lets him walk 12 months after his colleagues.
Dan Sorensen was so good in 2016 that he earned a major extension. Twelve months later, we’re wondering if the Chiefs could drop him anyway.
Eric Murray is a former fourth round choice finally got a chance for serious playing time last year and was graded poorly by Pro Football Focus. That said, will the Chiefs give him further chances to grow and learn or relegate him to the bottom of the depth chart.

Then there is, of course, Eric Berry. The All-Pro safety is a franchise icon, potential Hall of Famer and arguably the best defender on the team. (I’d say Justin Houston, but that’d start an argument and I’d derail my own point here by going further.) His return, on paper, should work wonders for helping the Chiefs secondary spring back to life in 2018.

But let’s have a moment of honesty that, for some reason, no one wants to have when it comes to Berry. How many times can a player return from a season-ending injury? At some point, doesn’t every player hit the wall? I certainly don’t want to be the guy that discounts Berry, because he’s proven himself time and time again already. He’s a hero, a true inspiration, and no one would take that away from him.

But at some point, someone in charge is going to have to decide that Eric Berry’s career is likely on the decline (or worse) and make moves accordingly. Is that time now? Is that next year? Is that in 5 years? There’s no way of knowing. But coming off of another season-ending injury, it’s at least fair to bring it up that perhaps the Comeback (capital-C) won’t be so dramatic this time and that the Chiefs defense won’t experience the expected impact of having Berry on the field.

The injury to Berry complicates things for the Chiefs because they’ve already blown up the rest of the secondary and got rid of the only other player that would make any defensive coordinator alter his plans when facing the Chiefs pass defense. Can Berry return to form? Sure. Can Kendall Fuller make the leap to household name? Maybe. Can Amerson provide a nice bounce back season? Possibly. Will the Chiefs draft additions, if there are any, make the difference? All of these things are possible.

But this radical reconstruction of the secondary has created so many more questions than before, including issues with depth, learning the system, impact players and the like. It’s placed tremendous pressure on Eric Berry to be Eric Berry once again and asked a lot of Kendall Fuller before he’s even donned a Chiefs uniform.

Yet Veach’s actions have spoken loud and clear: the secondary was the issue. Maybe it’s better to have these questions in 2018 than the answers we thought the Chiefs had in 2017.

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