External safety options don’t look that great for KC Chiefs

The entire Kansas City Chiefs defense has taken a significant turn in the last few weeks, and that held true on Sunday in a strong performance for all four quarters against the Green Bay Packers. Each level of the defense has looked much better in recent weeks, and there are myriad factors at work as to why that’s true, but one facet of the defense that’s still frustrating for fans is the amount of playing time given to safety Daniel Sorensen.

So far this season, Sorensen has been responsible for some serious defensive miscues—eIther a tackling angle was poor or an offensive mismatch was obvious. Sorensen has never been the most athletically gifted player on the field, but he’s always used his instincts, intelligence, hard work, talents, and non-stop effort to more than make up for it. This year, however, is a different story.

To be fair to Sorensen, a couple of things should be said in his defense.

First, the veteran safety should never have to buy himself a drink in Chiefs Kingdom ever again for the number of truly heroic plays he’s had over much of the last decade for the Chiefs. He’s been the very definition of clutch at key times when the team needed a big play—including single-handedly lifting the team over the Houston Texans in the postseason two years ago. That he’s done all of this for so long—he’s in his eighth NFL season—as a former undrafted free agent just makes it a great story. When he calls it a career, his story will be one of an unlikely hero coming through in a period of true greatness for the franchise. That’s brilliant.

Second, when a player is doing everything he can in a given situation and it’s still not enough, the blame doesn’t fall on the player. It falls on the coaching staff and front office for failing to either: A.) get someone in that situation who can get the job done, and/or B.) stop asking that player to do something he cannot do. That’s on general manager Brett Veach and head coach Andy Reid to recognize the issue and respond. Instead, fans are watching Sorensen out there week after week with the same results.

Things are improving here in that Sorensen is not starting anymore as Juan Thornhill is out of the doghouse and starting again—for whatever reason that was. But even against the Green Bay Packers, Sorensen was the weak link on the Pack’s only touchdown when defending Allen Lazard. Which left fans wanting help even as Sorensen has been relegated to a backup role.

For those who wonder why the Chiefs haven’t done anything, however, it’s clear that there are no options on the active roster. If Armani Watts would yield better results, he’d be right there. The same can be said of someone on the practice squad. But what about some external options?

Here we’ll take a look at some players the Chiefs could consider, but we’ll also tell you now that even the external options don’t look good for Kansas City.