The Kansas City Chiefs kicked off training camp this past weekend and there was a surprise cornerback getting first string reps. So who is D’Montre Wade?
The 2019 Kansas City Chiefs officially took the (practice) field for the first time on Saturday as training camp kicked off in St. Joseph, Missouri. Training camp is a time where star players get to show off what kind of shape they are in and to get everyone excited for the coming season. It’s also a time where lesser known players get to make a name for themselves.
With the Chiefs opting not to make a big time acquisition at the cornerback spot this offseason, fans knew that there would be competition for playing time. The expectation was that Kendall Fuller, Charvarius Ward, and Bashaud Breeland would be the top three guys with options like Tremon Smith, Keith Reaser, Rashad Fenton, and Mark Fields competing for snaps and roster spots. A player nobody was talking about was D’Montre Wade.
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During the first official camp practice on Saturday, the newly signed Bashaud Breeland cut his thumb and had to miss the rest of practice that day and all of practice on Sunday as well. While he was out the Chiefs didn’t slide nickel corner Kendall Fuller outside and they didn’t give Breeland’s snaps to guys I mentioned earlier. Instead it was Wade, a second year corner out of Murray State, that got most of the snaps on the outside with the first string.
Two days into training camp means nobody should overreact here. It’s certainly possible that by the end of camp, those aforementioned players could find themselves ahead of Wade on the depth chart. However, given the fact that the Chiefs felt Wade was worthy of being the first man up to start camp is noteworthy.
Tremon Smith is also a second year player who the Chiefs used a draft pick on and was on the active roster most of last season, and yet it appears that Wade is ahead of him to start camp. Keith Reaser is coming off a standout performance in the AFF this past spring and has more NFL experience than all of K.C.’s young corners and yet Wade seems to be running ahead of him as well.
I listed cornerback as my number three training camp battle in my Top Ten Training Camp Battles to Watch just last week and admittedly, you won’t find Wade’s name mentioned in it a single time.
Who exactly is D’Montre Wade?
Wade signed with the Chiefs as an undrafted free agent last year. Throughout most of camp he ran behind his fellow 2018 rookies, Tremon Smith and Arrion Springs. In fact, it was actually Springs that was the talk of fans as an undrafted cornerback that might have a shot to stick with the team.
Springs didn’t end up making the 53-man roster and, to the surprise of most fans, the Chiefs didn’t even sign him to the practice squad. Instead, they opted to keep the much less talked about Wade. Apparently the Chiefs saw some potential in him they wanted a chance to develop and now we have a chance to see if that decision may just pay off.
Wade was actually a running back coming out of high school, and if you look at his physical build you can see it in him. He’s a little more powerfully built than your typical corner. At 5-foot-11 and 205 pounds, he’s shaped more like a safety in some ways than a cornerback.
He has a decent wingspan at just short of 77 inches (the 6-foot-1 Charvarius Ward has a 77 1/4 inch wingspan for comparison). Wade put up a respectable 15 bench press reps at the combine but failed to impress with his straight line speed with just a 4.57 second time in the 40-yard dash. Some scouts were disappointed that Wade didn’t even try to improve his 40 time at his pro day and concerns over his deep speed are probably the top reason he went undrafted.
There isn’t much in the way of college tape to be found online on Wade, but I did find a couple of scouting reports from guys that I respect. The following is the summary on Wade from Dane Brugler‘s 2018 draft guide (Dane now works for the Athletic and is definitely worth checking out):
"A four-year starter at Murray State, Wade lined up as the right cornerback in the Racers’ press-heavy scheme. He didn’t play cornerback until he arrived at Murray State, but quickly adjusted and totaled 31 passes defended and nine interceptions over 21 starts his final two seasons in college. Wade enjoys competing and gets physical early to reroute receivers, using his length to jam and disrupt passing lanes. His lack of timed speed is a concern and matches the tape as he often turns and retreats off the snap to protect vs. deep speed, lacking the acceleration to recover once beat. Overall, Wade is not a technically refined player and lacks the elite athleticism or speed to mask mistakes, but he has the size, ball skills and toughness to earn a roster spot in training camp."
The ability to press and be physical near the line of scrimmage was a highly coveted skill under old defensive coordinator Bob Sutton. So it isn’t surprising that the Chiefs brought him in last season given that scouting report. It is yet to be seen just how press man heavy new coordinator Steve Spagnuolo will be this season but clearly he must have seen something in Wade during OTAs that he liked in order to put him ahead of other more well known options (at least for the time being).
NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein had Wade graded as a 6th-7th round prospect and while the jump in competition and Wade’s tendency to play too far off in zone coverage were concerns, his list of strengths was pretty promising.
"Former running back with good size and is well built through his lowersFour-year starterStrength to create resistance from pressGood coordination to jab and open hips concurrentlyPossesses good bounce and overall twitch in his feetAbility to match the release in early stages without laboringCan find hip to hip placement with receiver and stay in phaseOn vertical routes, crowds receiver along the boundary before looking for the ballAdequate change of direction talentPlays with optimal balance from zoneShows awareness of all patterns around himArms are long and uses that length effectivelyPlays the catch window with timing and aggressivenessSolid tackler who can be counted on in open field"
Unfortunately, Pro Football Focus doesn’t have a comprehensive college grade for D’Montre Wade due to the level of competition that he played at in college. However, I did find the following tweet with his numbers from last preseason.
D’Montre Wade (@dwade5_)
— PFF KC Chiefs (@PFF_Chiefs) April 20, 2019
Wade was signed by the #Chiefs after the 2018 Draft.
Wade played 57 preseason snaps & received a 61.9 Overall grade, allowing just 1 reception on 5 targets.
Wade received grades of 71.3 Overall, 82.5 Coverage, & 72.5 Tackling on 18 snaps vs the Texans.
I don’t know if D’Montre Wade will continue to get any first string reps once Bashaud Breeland returns to practice and its certainly too early to predict if he will earn a spot on the final 53 man roster. However, his current status on the training camp depth chart at least warrants a closer look at this player as camp continues and the preseason games roll around.
In the meantime, there are a few college highlights in the video below that was put out by Murray State after Wade was selected to the Senior Bowl last year. If nothing else, it allows you to see a little of his athleticism and ball skills.
I’ll be heading to camp myself later this week so check back next Monday to see my thoughts and observations after a couple of days at camp.