Let’s applaud the fact that Kansas City was able to reach the pinnacle of the sport without trading away a major asset for another cornerback.
The final chapter is complete on the story of the 2019 Kansas City Chiefs. Much will be said (and deservedly so) about head coach Andy Reid‘s first career championship, Super Bowl MVP quarterback Patrick Mahomes, and a myriad of other storylines.
Chiefs Kingdom also owes a tip of the cap to the Chiefs’ cornerback group.
Bashaud Breeland, Kendall Fuller, Charvarius Ward, Rashad Fenton, and Morris Claiborne played at a very high level over the course of the season and, given the nature of the position, their good play often gets overlooked.
Let’s take a moment to applaud the fact that Kansas City was able to reach the pinnacle of the sport without trading away a major asset for another cornerback.
But, really, let’s take a moment to applaud the fact that Kansas City was able to reach the pinnacle of the sport without trading away a major asset for another cornerback.
Looking back into the last 18 months, it doesn’t take long to tally up the most frequent complaints about the team’s personnel decisions. Fans, pundits, and radio hosts alike spent hours upon hours trying to calculate what it would take for general manager Brett Veach to acquire a top-of-the-line corner. Snakebitten from the mediocre performance of the 2018 defense, fans clamored for an upgrade.
Entering the 2019 season, the Chiefs had a few quality pieces at the position, but fans wanted a bona fide stopper in the secondary. Fuller and Ward were both 2018 acquisitions that would be relied upon in 2019 under new defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo. But the general consensus at the water cooler was that both players were sufficient as ancillary components, but would create a weakness if left to lead the group.
As the team entered the draft, the focus was on top-tier cornerbacks like Byron Murphy, DeAndre Baker, and Greedy Williams. The Chiefs chose to trade away their first-round pick for defensive end Frank Clark, and so it seemed Veach would find a corner with one of their two second-round picks.
No one would have predicted that Veach would wait until Round 6 to select his first (and only) corner, but that’s exactly what transpired, as the Chiefs shored up other needs with their first three picks before selecting Fenton. Later in free agency, the team inked Breeland to a one-year deal, and toward the end of August, Claiborne signed as well (but was suspended for the first month of the season).
Everyone was pleasantly surprised as the team ran the gauntlet in the first four games with just three corners active on the roster. Spagnuolo preferred to use three and four safeties, and it worked. However, it felt as though any week, the shoe would drop.
As the trade deadline inched closer, trade talks spiraled into the top of every radio hour and online discussion. It seemed like it was just a matter of when and what draft capital would be given up in exchange. The Cardinals’ Patrick Peterson and the Jaguars’ Jalen Ramsey were the hottest points of discussion.
Yet Veach held his cards.
The in-house corners continued to come up with clutch performances. In Foxborough, Breeland made a masterful play on the ball in the end zone to wrap up the road win against the New England Patriots. Ward simply got better and better with each passing week, shutting down high-profile receivers like Stefon Diggs and DeAndre Hopkins.
When it was all said and done, Breeland and Ward both played 16 games, and Fuller missed five games after undergoing surgery for a fractured thumb. Claiborne didn’t embarrass himself while Fuller was out and, after the bye week, even Fenton began to get in the mix on defense, most noticeably with a 4th quarter interception against the L.A. Chargers. The team allowed just two 300-yard passers in 2019.
It is remarkable that, even without the perceived top-flight shutdown corner (of which there might not be even one in the entire league, but that’s another discussion), the Chiefs were able to work cohesively on defense to reach the Super Bowl. Fuller and Breeland each played outstanding games in Miami, as both intercepted Niners quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo.
While critical to the team’s Super Bowl victory, those two plays may complicate the team’s offseason plans a little bit, as there are a number of decisions to be made within the cornerback group in 2020. Fuller, Breeland, and Claiborne are free agents, and yes, one big play in the Super Bowl will ratchet numbers up a little bit in contract discussions. Only Ward, Fenton, and Alex Brown (a late-season call-up from the practice squad who played special teams) are under contract in 2020.
Veach and Spaguolo have a lot of evaluating to do as they work to defend the team’s first championship in 50 years. Based on the body of work from their assembly of talent, it’s fair to say they’ve earned the right to our trust.