Exploring the Kansas City Chiefs lack of investment at cornerback

Conclusions and Closing Thoughts

General manager Brett Veach has now had three offseasons to build the Chiefs in the manner he thinks is best. That is enough time to make some judgements on how he is going about doing it. While the overall product cannot be questioned after winning the Chiefs first Super Bowl in 50 years, it is at least worth taking note of how little he has invested in the cornerback position.

For a position that most would agree is one of the five most important in football, he has spent the least amount of his resources on it and is drastically below the best coverage teams in the NFL in terms of investment in the cornerback position. In other words, Veach is gambling on the cornerback position.

If Veach pulls this off, he is a genius. If the Chiefs have figured a way to get adequate results with almost no investment while the rest of the league commits big time resources to the position, it is a huge advantage for K.C. That is why this piece shouldn’t be seen as full-fledged criticism. It could be that Brett Veach and defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo believe that they can get by with lower-profile players at cornerback if they have certain physical traits that they need. If so, my hat is off to them for being pioneers and bucking the league-wide approach to defense in this pass-heavy era.

However, should this plan not pan out, Veach is leaving himself open to heavy criticism. Should Breeland (or Ward for that matter) miss some time and the young and unproven corners look much more like Marcus Cooper and Phillip Gaines than the next Ward, it could be a dangerous Achilles’ heel for a roster that otherwise looks ready to repeat as Super Bowl champions. We’ve seen in the past how good quarterbacks were able to abuse one weak corner.

I hope that Breeland, Ward, and Fenton are on the field and play as well as they did last season. I hope that guys like Sneed and Keyes develop into great NFL players. I hope that Spagnuolo’s defense continues to improve and excel without premiere talent at the cornerback position. If so, the Chiefs will have a huge advantage over the rest of the league. If not, let’s just hope that Mahomes and the offense are ready to score a whole lot of points this season (which is certainly a possibility).

What do you think Chiefs fans? Are you concerned with the lack of investment at the cornerback position? Are you worried that it could come back to bite them this season, or are you confident in both Brett Veach and the defense after their Super Bowl winning season last year? I’d love to read your thoughts in the comments below.