Way too early to worry: Previewing the Chiefs cornerbacks in 2019
By Kody Latham
Just three seasons ago the corner back position was one of the Chiefs strengths. As of right now it may be their biggest weakness going into the 2019 season.
With the conclusion of the NFL draft, we have finally seen Kansas City Chiefs general manager Brett Veach complete the major portion of the offseason. We also now have a baseline of how he will attempt to improve the roster in future seasons.
Looking at the roster as it stands right now, I must admit that, although I don’t think Veach did a bad job in this draft, I am extremely worried about the Chiefs and the cornerback position moving into the future.
The Chiefs current projected starters this year are Kendall Fuller, Steven Nelson, and David Amerson. The thing that bothers me about this isn’t really their play, I feel like they will be fine this year but not spectacular. No, the thing that worries me is who is actually going to be on the team going into the 2019 season.
As of right now these are the corners under contract next year:
- Kendall Fuller
- Will Redmond
- Ashton Lampkin
- Tremon Smith
- Makinton Dorleant
More from Arrowhead Addict
- Former Chiefs cornerback in legal trouble in Las Vegas
- Chiefs Kingdom: Get ready to break contract news
- Chiefs news: Travis Kelce wants to host fan ‘chug-off’ in Germany
- Podcast: Breaking down the Chiefs biggest roster battles
- KC Chiefs send Dave Merritt to NFL coaching accelerator
That’s it. That is the Chiefs cornerback group heading into 2019 as of right now. Steven Nelson is slated to be a free agent. David Ameron’s one-year deal will be up. Even Keith Reaser will hit free agency as well.
I get that a lot of things can change between now and then, but you must wonder with so few proven players at the position heading into next season, why didn’t Veach make more of an effort to draft guys at the cornerback position? The Chiefs have upwards of $43 million in cap space next season, so in theory they can resign whoever they need to.
As of right now it feels that Veach has mistakenly backed the Chiefs into a position where they are going to have to attack free agency and the draft next year to fix the position and most likely overpay for a guy. Hopefully some of these unproven players step up this year and put my worries to rest, as of right now though I doubt that happens.