Trying to interpret the KC Chiefs inaction at cornerback

Coming into the 2021 offseason, one of the primary areas at which the K.C. Chiefs were expected to invest was at cornerback. The position had a lot of potential, but it also faced significant questions. Fast forward a few months, and the Chiefs don’t seem all that concerned after all.

As the NFL began its new league year, not only did the Chiefs expect Bashaud Breeland to hit the free agent market after two successful seasons in the secondary, but the defense had also watched an exciting young prospect in Deandre Baker go down with a broken femur in Week 17. That created two potential losses in a unit that had the young talent to withstand the exit of one player, but even that was a best-case scenario.

The Chiefs had to be very pleased with what they observed in L’Jarius Sneed’s rookie season, and his projected growth gave them a pillar at one boundary corner spot. The team also decided to extend a second-round tender to Charvarius Ward, a restricted free agent, instead of letting him walk for nothing. That meant another starter was brought back, albeit one who struggled with inconsistency at times.

Beyond those two, Rashad Fenton looked solid in limited reps as a sub package corner and BoPete Keyes remained a second-round player who is likely to slot into the role vacated by Antonio Hamilton as a special teams maven who can slot into dime packages. That’s a decent enough core, but that’s hardly a dependable set of corners with which to enter the regular season.

What does the Chiefs inaction at cornerback tell us?

It was telling, then, that the Chiefs allowed the first several weeks of free agency and the entirety of the 2021 NFL Draft to pass by without the import of a single cornerback. While the team undoubtedly addressed a number of concerns, many of which are more significant than corner, it’s interesting to see the inaction on the Chiefs part to date.

There is one move that the Chiefs have made and that’s to bring in a challenger at slot corner. The team originally asked K’Waun Williams to visit, which he did, but he ended up re-signing with the San Francisco 49ers shortly thereafter. Following the draft, they brought in former Denver Broncos defensive back Will Parks, who officially profiles as a safety but can certainly handle reps as a slot corner. That was a nice move for the sake of competition, but if the Chiefs have issues on the outside, then they’ve remained eerily quiet with their concerns.

Rumors have persisted that the Chiefs could still bring back Bashaud Breeland. If so, then any doubters would be silenced given his history and previous success with the team. Breeland has his detractors, but he’s supremely sticky as a corner and does what Steve Spagnuolo asks of his DBs. It’s also important to admit the position overall is quite mercurial for anything other than an elite performer.

The overall lack of attention to the position could be telling in terms of what the Chiefs believe to be true about Baker. The former first-round pick of the New York Giants was the first cornerback selected as recently as 2019, and he started 15 games in that first year in the Big Apple. Yes, he missed the vast majority of last season and there are clear off-the-field concerns about the company he keeps and the decisions he might make, but he was exonerated of all charges last year following false allegations of robbery—a scenario in which he was actually the victim.

If Baker is healthy and back in shape from his broken leg by the time training camp arrives, the Chiefs look like they could be in solid shape without making any significant moves at the position. A trio of contenders for boundary reps of Sneed, Baker, and Ward is a solid one, and the competition between Parks and Fenton inside would also be one to watch. It’s also possible that Keyes is ready for more reps than expected and/or Alex Brown looks good coming off of injury as well.

It’s still very possible the Chiefs sign a corner in free agency, such as Breeland, and bolster the secondary, but at this point, the inaction is telling about the state of the position. To date, it’s telling us the Chiefs feel better about it than some fans and that Baker could be all right.