Could the Kansas City Chiefs have less talent at cornerback than last season?

The Kansas City Chiefs cornerbacks are looking perilously thin heading into the regular season, and they could actually be worse off overall than 2017.

Brett Veach knew he had holes to fill. He was trying to do so on the fly even before the season was over.

When the Kansas City Chiefs general manager signed veteran Darrelle Revis with several regular season games left to play, press conferences made it clear that Veach had been calling all season long to lure the future Hall of Famer onto his team.

There was a reason for such repeated attempts to sign Revis and it had nothing to do with bringing in a strong veteran presence. It was an attempt to stop the bleeding that Veach apparently knew would happen on the outside opposite Marcus Peters. Unfortunately for the Chiefs, they bled all season long.

Heading into the offseason, it was an obvious priority to address the position—not only with a new outside starter but with plenty of depth as well. Of course, you can’t import a bevy of new products without first creating room, so the Chiefs offseason began with emptying the shelves of current stock. In the process, the Chiefs waved (waived?) goodbye to Terrance Mitchell (now with the Browns), Phillip Gaines (Bills), Kenneth Acker (Jaguars), Revis (retired), Steven Terrell (Titans) and Ron Parker (Falcons) in the secondary.

Since then, however, the acquisition process has looked familiar. In fact, it’s looked too familiar. Remember the guys who were “emptied” at season’s end? Let’s remember how the Chiefs got them in the first place:

Terrance Mitchell signed to Chiefs practice squad.
The Chiefs traded a 7th round choice to the San Francisco 49ers for Kenneth Acker.
Steven Terrell signed as a free agent with the Chiefs.
Phillip Gaines was a former 3rd round pick.
Ron Parker was claimed on waivers.
Revis, as mentioned earlier, signed as a free agent.

The full scope of players who were suiting up last year for the Chiefs were largely acquired as low-risk investments, with the biggest being a third round choice for Gaines back in 2014. The rest were cheap one-year deals (or in Revis’s case, an inflated deal with a second-year option that was never realistically going to be picked up), waiver claims, fringe player trades and more.

Does that sound familiar?

Right now, the Chiefs look like they are heading into the season with the following:

David Amerson, a bounce-back candidate who signed a cheap one-year deal as a flyer.
Orlando Scandrick signed an even cheaper one-year deal after already being released by two teams this offseason.
The Chiefs just traded Parker Ehinger, an offensive lineman who was apparently not going to make the final roster, to the Dallas Cowboys for an undrafted free agent from this year: cornerback Charvarius Ward.
Tremon Smith was this year’s sixth round selection.
Steven Nelson is a former third round pick.
Other options, should the Chiefs so choose, include Keith Reaser (practice squad signing), Will Redmond (another practice squad signing), Arrion Springs (UDFA), D’Montre Wade (UDFA), Mackinton Dorleant (UDFA).

Once again, there’s a single investment on a higher level in the third round and then a large stack of low-level investments via free agency or trades or draft.

If a team hits on these kinds of value propositions, then it’s a genius move. If Amerson plays like he’s ready to return to the form that earned him a major extension with the Raiders, if Scandrick plays with a chip on his shoulder to prove he’s not too old to compete, if Ward is a hidden gem, if Smith can make the leap in competition, if Nelson can stay healthy, then Chiefs Kingdom will be happy and Veach will be hoisted atop “Best GM Rankings” lists everywhere.

But that’s not what we’re seeing so far. The reason Veach has to go after Ward is because his move to go after Scandrick might not have made up for going after Amerson. Pretty soon, it looks like a GM is suddenly locked into a series of low-level investments to try to make up for the last one that didn’t work out—instead of just making a major play in the first place.

Two quick caveats here that need to be explained or expressed:

Veach did go all-in with a trade asset for the sake of a cornerback this offseason in Kendall Fuller, so he does deserve credit for that.
Unfortunately, Fuller is now only a substitute (although not quite positionally) as the top cornerback on the team after Veach also turned around and traded Marcus Peters for pennies on the dollar. We’ve not focused on either player because they are the one safe player on the roster, so it’s a wash. The Chiefs traded the best and yet made a heavy investment to at least get one in return.

For those who say that Brett Veach did not have the resources or ability to go with a major investment at cornerback this season, I have a few exhibits for you to look at in the next room.

First, Veach took some criticism this offseason for signing not one but TWO players to questionable amounts of money. Not a single person would ever criticize his attempts to bring in Sammy Watkins at wide receiver or Anthony Hitchens at inside linebacker, but at the ridiculous cost of each, there are some real negatives.

Think about this: a great quarterback always makes those around him look much better than they are. The Chiefs are investing in the opposite despite all reviews and evidence that point to the contrary—that Mahomes should be able to make already good or even great players look better than they have in years past. Did the Chiefs really need to invest in another wideout—at least at that cost?

Even more, inside linebackers seem to be as plug-and-play as any position in the NFL and easily found even in later rounds in the draft. The Broncos struck gold with Josey Jewell in the fourth round and yet the Chiefs seem enamored with his college teammate at Iowa in Ben Niemann who was not even drafted. Do you really have to pay a guy $9 million per year?

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Or how about in the draft where the Chiefs lacked a first round pick but still had three selections in the first three rounds. One of those can’t be a cornerback? Not even one?

Watkins is a great addition. Hitchens looks solid in the middle. There’s a lot of excitement around Breeland Speaks and Dorian O’Daniel and Derrick Nnadi. It’s nothing against those guys, but were any of those positions (outside of the run defense) in need of such an injection of proven or high-ceiling talent as cornerback.

Let me answer this for you. It’s a simple “no.”

So without Marcus Peters, the Chiefs’s strength of the secondary now stands inside. New starters include Scandrick and Nelson with Amerson and Ward and Smith likely backing those up. Or perhaps the Chiefs shake things up and keep a few others mentioned instead of these. Does it really matter in the end? Do any of these names really strike you as an improvement upon last season? Nelson was already here, so looking at the new faces versus the replaced ones, it all seems like more of the same. Or maybe the Chiefs are worse off than before.

The Kansas City Chiefs cornerbacks are looking perilously thin heading into the regular season, and they could actually be worse off overall than 2017.

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