Originally the plan was for Kendall Fuller to line up outside, but Al Harris recently noted that his outside guys were Steven Nelson and David Amerson.
When the Kansas City Chiefs traded for cornerback Kendall Fuller from the Washington Redskins in the Alex Smith deal, the upside was his youth and tremendous performance in the slot in 2017. The growth from his rookie year was significant, and it was clear from the response on both sides of the trade that Fuller was appreciated by all.
There wasn’t really any downside to the deal at all, but if there was a concern, at least, it was that Fuller played inside for Washington in the slot. That was the same position mostly occupied by Steven Nelson for the Chiefs. Not only was there some overlap at the time, but after the Marcus Peters trade, it only further brought up the lack of outside options while the team had inside options galore.
From the beginning, Andy Reid said that Fuller would be given a chance to play outside to “add that to his repertoire.” Then the Chiefs could rotate him inside on obvious passing downs (which the Chiefs are in a nickel subset or more most of the time, anyway). Here’s the full quote from Reid’s presser when asked about the Fuller trade:
"“He ended up developing into the best inside pass defender in the league, and now he has an opportunity to step outside and do that also and add that to his repertoire. We’ll use him on the outside but on the inside too in nickel situations.”"
Fast forward to this past week. Fuller is now with the Chiefs in offseason training activities. The coaching staff has seen him and other imports up close as the secondary has been radically reconstructed. From then until now, there seems to have been a slight change in plans.
Let’s go back to something Al Harris, the Chiefs secondary coach coach, said in his brief press remarks this week. When asked by a reporter whether the cornerbacks were going to rotate at different spots “to see where they mesh”, Harris had a definite response.
"More from Arrowhead AddictFormer Chiefs cornerback in legal trouble in Las VegasChiefs Kingdom: Get ready to break contract newsChiefs news: Travis Kelce wants to host fan ‘chug-off’ in GermanyPodcast: Breaking down the Chiefs biggest roster battlesKC Chiefs send Dave Merritt to NFL coaching accelerator“No, right now, as our package sits, you put the guys on the outside who are outside guys and inside guys on the inside. That is how we handle it as a defensive staff. Right now, Dave and Steve are my outside pieces and Fuller will go inside.”"
Dave and Steve are David Amerson and Steven Nelson, respectively. Nelson has played outside at times, and he really stood out as a coverage highlight in the team’s playoff loss to the Tennessee Titans. It’s possible the front office is really high on his development, barring injury. Amerson has played outside plenty before, but his play has declined in recent years after signing a major extension before the 2016 season with the Oakland Raiders. Still only 26, Brett Veach is hoping for a bounce back season.
Nothing is really set in stone this far away from the regular season. Anything can change and will, as exhibited even by this story from Reid’s comments to the set-up at OTAs. Then again, Harris spoke pretty confidently about having his players in place. He also responded with a direct “no” when asked if he’d even rotate them to test how things could work.
It seems as if the Chiefs love Fuller’s exceptional inside play and don’t want to mess with it. They’ve traded an impact outside corner this offseason, while importing an impact slot corner. Here’s hoping Amerson and Nelson can be the outside guys the Chiefs are envisioning them to be, because Fuller is clearly in his spot—at least for now.