Adrian Colbert brings versatile, physical tackler to Chiefs secondary

Adrian Colbert gives the Chiefs secondary a versatile player and physical tackler.

The Kansas City Chiefs are intent on bolstering the secondary by bringing in further competition at safety, and their latest signing will make the depth chart all the more crowded with the report they will sign Adrian Colbert.

The Miami Dolphins placed Colbert on waivers a few days ago.

Colbert first entered the NFL as the seventh round choice of the San Francisco 49ers in the 2017 NFL Draft. Colbert fought the long odds to make the team and even earned a starting role a rookie. Colbert would play in 21 games and start 12 in 2017-18, but lost his starting role due to being placed on injured reserve after suffering a high ankle sprain in his final season.

Colbert would eventually be waived heading into 2019 and the Seattle Seahawks stepped in to claim him. He landed on the team’s practice squad, and the Miami Dolphins claimed him and made him a starter in Brian Flores’ defense last season. He had 22 tackles and 2 passes deflected in 5 starts.

Colbert is a versatile player with starting experience at free safety who actually played cornerback in college at Miami (Fl.). He’s a physical hitter with 4.4 speed who is also long at 6’2″. That always plays well in Steve Spagnuolo’s defense. That said, he’s prone to the same mental errors most young players make coming into NFL secondaries and he’ll need to clean up some missed tackles as well if he wants to stick.

Given that the Chiefs also recently signed safety Tedric Thompson, this gives them plenty of competition for the rest of training camp alongside Dan Sorensen, Armani Watts, Rodney Clemons, and Chris Lammons for backup roles and special teams opportunities.