KC Chiefs will finally get a long look at BoPete Keyes
By Matt Conner
After passing his physical, the Chiefs can finally look at BoPete Keyes.
Thakarius “BoPete” Keyes picked a good time to pass his physical.
As the Kansas City Chiefs prepare for another week of training camp leading up to the season opener against the visiting Houston Texans, they find themselves a bit short on internal options at cornerback. Bashaud Breeland is present but will be suspended once the regular season gets underway. Alex Brown just landed on injured reserve with a torn ACL. Lavert Hill and Antonio Hamilton have also been missing practice due to injuries.
When the Chiefs first selected Keyes in the 2020 NFL Draft, it was something of a surprise. Many Chiefs fans had likely stopped watching at that point—into the seventh round—especially since their favorite team ran out of picks back at the end of the fifth round when they selected defensive end Michael Danna out of Michigan. Thanks to previous trades, the Chiefs had no picks in either the sixth or seventh rounds.
Heads turned, however, when Veach decided to deal a sixth-round pick in 2021 in exchange for the 237th overall selection in 2020 in order to jump into the Tennessee Titans spot and grab Keyes, a defensive back out of Tulane. A long corner who stands 6’1″, Keyes wasn’t going to last until a few picks later, according to general manager Brett Veach, which is why he stepped up to secure Keyes’ services.
Keyes opened training camp for the Chiefs with a fractured orbital bone, so he’s been unable to practice just yet. Given the need for rookies to receive as many preseason reps as possible, having Keyes able to step in at this juncture with so many other players out will give Steve Spagnuolo and his staff a very good chance to test what Veach saw on tape.
The Chiefs coaching staff has done an excellent job in the secondary in recent seasons developing young prospects and the trend continued even with a new staff in 2019. Charvarius Ward got a lot better in his first full season as a starter, and the staff worked wonders with sixth round choice Rashad Fenton during his rookie year. If Keyes and fellow draft pick L’Jarius Sneed can handle the learning curve, the Chiefs could use them sooner than later.
During his senior season, Keyes had 47 total tackles, 4 pass breakups and 1 interception and was named All-American Athletic Conference Honorable Mention.