Kansas City Chiefs cornerback Steven Nelson has had a strong 2018 campaign. Will he earn his second contract in Kansas City this offseason?
Heading into the 2018 season, the Kansas City Chiefs cornerback group looked to be one of the areas of dire need. After ten games, it seems that many of us, including myself, were wrong about the strength of that unit. The cornerbacks have played surprisingly well through 10 games, and have only gotten better as the season has progressed.
One of those cornerbacks is fourth-year corner Steven Nelson, a third-round pick from the 2015 draft. He’s quietly had a career season so far, and even Pro Football Focus recognized him after the game against the Cleveland Browns game as one of their NFL Secret Superstars from Week 9. Following the Week 10 victory over the Arizona Cardinals, Nelson is sitting at three interceptions and nine pass deflections on the season.
Up to this point in his career, Nelson has been mostly an average cornerback. Much of that has to do with injuries and playing next to Marcus Peters the last few seasons. Peters’ own ball-hawking ability and Pro Bowl status was a shadow over the rest of the secondary. Peters also could have been part of the reason that Nelson struggled during his early stages.
When the defense had someone like Peters on the defense, offenses schemed to take advantage of the other cornerbacks on the field. Nelson and the rest of the cornerbacks over the last few years were often matched up with number one receivers as offenses avoiding Peters’ side of the field. Another issue was that considering Peters tended to play outside of the scheme of defensive coordinator Bob Sutton, which means some of those plays given up by Nelson and others could have been partially Peters fault.
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How many times did we see Nelson playing press man-coverage while Peters was ten yards off his receiver? There’s also the fact that Nelson has finally stuck to a specific role instead of moving back and forth between the boundary and slot positions. Playing in a boundary role helps Nelson’s style of play using that boundary as another defender considering he tends to play more aggressively.
When asked about Pro Football Focus ranking Nelson in the top 20 cornerbacks in the league so far this season, he seemed confident as he told reporters he’s not surprised. Last season we saw a small glimpse of this kind of player from Nelson once he got back into the game. Spending the first half of the season on Injured Reserve, it took a few games to get back into the swing of things, but Nelson looked like a solid cornerback down the final stretch for Kansas City last year.
Factoring in everything from playing next to Peters, injuries, and more time at one specific role instead of bouncing around it would seem that Kansas City might have finally gotten what they wanted out of Nelson when they drafted him in 2015. Considering it’s the last year of his rookie deal, the Chiefs might be smart to sign him to a long-term deal this offseason.
One of the main topics circling the cornerback position this year was that there wasn’t much future for the group set in stone yet. Outside of Kendall Fuller who has one more year on his rookie deal following 2018, the only other cornerbacks on the Chiefs roster that are set to be here for 2019 are rookies Tremon Smith and Charvarius Ward. Orlando Scandrick is on a rental deal this season and will likely hit free agency which leaves the Chiefs with some open spots.
If Kansas City can find a way to sign Nelson this offseason to a long-term deal, it would be extremely beneficial for the team. Not only have you finally gotten what you wanted out of Nelson, but it also allows you to play those younger rookies still possibly next season or bring in a third cornerback from either free agency or the draft to solidify the spot. They would have to only find one player instead of two on the back end.
The Chiefs will have the money to make a deal with Nelson this offseason if they choose. While I’m not sitting here saying they should back up the money truck to pay him top cornerback money, finding a decent deal to keep him in Kansas City would be extremely beneficial, and the timing is perfect. With Patrick Mahomes still on his rookie deal, there is plenty of money that the team can spend to bolster the rest of the roster.
According to Spotrac, the Chiefs are estimated to have roughly $44 million in CAP space this coming offseason. Finally getting out of the dead cap situations the team has been stuck in from the John Dorsey era, there will be plenty of money to spend. They could also elect to sign players coming off their rookie deals a year early if they decided with players like Chris Jones and Tyreek Hill.
Given that there aren’t many big contracts coming up this offseason, I don’t see a reason that Kansas City can’t work out a deal with Nelson. The only players of significance who are up at the end of the year might be center Mitch Morse and wide receiver Chris Conley who the team could easily sign to smaller deals or afford to walk away from entirely. I think it’s a no-brainer to get this deal done.