Can the Chiefs rely on young cornerbacks to fill in for Bashaud Breeland?

Antonio Hamilton

A four-year veteran cornerback, Hamilton has yet to find consistent playing time in the NFL. The Las Vegas Raiders signed him as an undrafted free agent before spending the last two seasons with the New York Giants. Throughout his four year career, he has only started in two games, which both came in 2019. Something that came as a bit of a surprise was Madison comparing Hamilton’s role in the defense to Kendall Fuller‘s position last year.

"“He’s very smart. We talk to a lot of people where he came from — the (New York) Giants — and just understanding his strongpoints. Right now, we’re using him on the inside, we’re using him on the outside because he has done both in his career, so just trying to find the best pieces to the puzzle to put out there on the football field so we can win some games. “He’s definitely going to have the opportunity to be able to help us in multiple positions and that was something — the same thing that Kendall Fuller was able to do for us last year.”"

In 2019, Fuller came back from injury with a new role in the Chiefs defense. Instead of playing primarily in the slot, he played a mixture of the slot and safety positions. When Thornhill was injured in Week 17, Fuller was one of the significant pieces in filling that void as he saw more time at the safety position.

Following the signing of Hamilton during the first week of free agency, the expectation for him was to play mostly special teams snaps. By all accounts, Hamilton will likely earn one of the gunner roles on special teams, but due to the loss of Breeland over the first four games, he could see significant playing time on defense as well.

In 2019, Hamilton had a career-high of 133 defensive snaps for the Giants, 74 of those coming in the season finale. During the Week 17 matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles, Hamilton posted all four of his career pass breakups. He allowed only two completions on seven targets. Can the veteran build on that performance against better competition? He remains an unknown at this point, and it’s hard to gauge his performance against the Eagles injured receiving core at the end of last season.

As the Chiefs and the rest of the NFL have little time to get players ready for the season, Hamilton has also been dealing with a groin injury at training camp. The lack of reps and experience could limit his role on defense.