Chiefs roster evaluation: Cornerbacks exceed all expectations
The Kansas City Chiefs cornerbacks played well above expectations in 2019, despite the lack of capital spent at the position.
We look back at the Kansas City Chiefs 2019 season this time of year to see how each position group performed. The cornerback position is one of the more intriguing units as it was one of the positions that we all had concerns about going into the season. During this series, we take a step back to see what we thought about each unit before the season. Once we figure out our thoughts on that group going into the season, we move on to what actually happened. In the end, we discuss what we learned about the group from the season. Today, we discuss the cornerback position.
What we thought would happen
Similar to the Kansas City Chiefs 2019 defensive line, there were question marks on how the cornerback position would look going into the season. The new coaching staff, led by defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, brought a new scheme. While switching from a 3-4 defense to a 4-3 base doesn’t affect the cornerback position as much as other units, it was still unknown what Spagnuolo would ask of the players.
The Chiefs defense ranked 31st against the pass in 2018. Even with new faces in the cornerback room, none of them brought confidence to significant improvement. Players like Bashaud Breeland, Morris Claiborne, and Rashad Fenton didn’t seem like much of an upgrade over the previous roster.
There was optimism that Spagnulo’s abilities to adjust and implement a scheme to fit his player’s strengths. Yet, Chiefs fans were still questioning the decision not to address the position seriously. It was just another season picking up a couple of cheap veterans and waiting till the sixth round to draft one. The optimism outside of pure scheme was that there were safeties that could shadow some of that lack of talent on the perimeter.
After the second straight offseason of general manager Brett Veach being in charge and not attacking the position we all thought was the biggest weakness, fans just hoped that the offense could make up for it again as they did in 2018. Looking back with hindsight, it’s crazy to think that maybe we were wrong.