Three players who can still help the Kansas City Chiefs this season

Deandre Baker

In mid-November, the Chiefs lucked out in their ability to sign free agent cornerback Deandre Baker. It was an incredible mid-season addition of a young player, a former first-round pick at that, at a position in which the Chiefs haven’t made such a heavy investment since they selected 2016 when they chose Marcus Peters in the first round in 2016.

Since then, however, Baker has been slow to arrive on the active roster. The Chiefs originally brought in Baker to the team’s practice squad, which is where he has sat for the three games since then. At first, it was presumed Baker would need a few days to quarantine for COVID purposes and then for further time to acclimate to the Chiefs playbook. In addition, it was important to note that he would need to get back into game shape as well, so an official timeline was never given.

What was likely unexpected by much of Chiefs Kingdom was that at least three more opponents would come and go on the schedule before we’d see Baker in a Chiefs uniform. The Chiefs have faced the Las Vegas Raiders, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Denver Broncos since signing Baker with no assurance that we’ll see him before another game goes by. In fact, the Chiefs promoted a defensive back from the practice squad before the Broncos game, but it was Chris Lammons instead.

Perhaps the Chiefs aren’t concerned with rushing things at all knowing the long-term is in view but Chiefs fans should still stay on the lookout for a young corner who was the first one drafted just last year. Baker had 15 starts for the Giants in his rookie season and could really blossom with further coaching for the Chiefs. It will be interesting to see when he joins the team and how much he’s allowed to showcase down the stretch.