KC Chiefs: Sizing up the competition at cornerback

Subtractions

The Kansas City Chiefs saw the departure of multiple corners in the past few months, ranging from a full-time starter to a player who mainly saw action in special teams.

Let’s review some of the Chiefs’ most notable departures at cornerback since this offseason began.

Charvarius Ward

Surprising no one, Charvarius Ward was the Chiefs’ biggest loss among cornerbacks this offseason. A lot may argue that Ward was the biggest loss for the Chiefs this Spring, outside Tyreek Hill and possibly Tyrann Mathieu.

I may argue that the Chiefs view Ward as a bigger loss than Mathieu since the Chiefs made a bigger effort to bring back Ward than Mathieu.

On March 17, Ward signed a three-year deal with the 49ers. The Chiefs tried to bring him back, but the deal just wasn’t there and he left for San Francisco.

Per Pro Football Focus, Ward played 933 snaps for the Chiefs’ defense this past season, the high majority were spent at outside corner. In 584 coverage snaps in 2021, Ward earned a PFF overall grade of 71.2 ($) and a coverage grade of 69.4 (with 60.0 considered “average”), good for 25th and 33rd ($), respectively, among all corners in the NFL.

An underrated part of his game that will be missed will be his tackling. Ward earned an 80.9 tackle grade from PFF last year, good for the top 10 among all corners. Although seldom used, he was a decent blitzer when asked. He earned an 83.2 pass-rush grade last year in 7 snaps and a 77.1 pass-rush grade in 17 pass-rush snaps in 2020. His size and long arms were also an asset for a Chiefs defense that wasn’t ripe with those traits.

He will be missed but the Chiefs did make multiple additions to replace his skillset.

Mike Hughes

Mike Hughes signed with the Detroit Lions on March 27.

Although Hughes’ tenure in Kansas City was short, it did not lack excitement. He recorded the game-sealing interception against Baker Mayfield in Week 1 of last year’s game against the Cleveland Browns. He also recorded a fumble-recovery touchdown on the very first play of the Week 14 game against the Las Vegas Raiders.

He also had his down games, such as against the Buffalo Bills in the divisional round of the playoffs when he allowed 3 catches on 3 targets for 50 yards and 3 touchdowns for a putrid PFF coverage grade of 40.1 ($) (60.0 is considered “average”). He also got picked on for 5 catches, 53 yards, and 2 touchdowns in Week 3 against the Chargers.

Overall, I don’t believe that Mike Hughes will be missed much, especially since the Chiefs brought in several options to help replace him.

Chris Lammons

Chris Lammons was not a player who saw a ton of action outside of special teams. According to PFF, in 2021, he saw 14 defensive snaps ($) compared to 219 snaps on special teams, where he recorded 3 tackles. He did not see enough action on defense to leave a big hole.

Lammons was not brought back, presumably due to legal issues related to an incident involving Alvin Kamara the weekend of the 2022 pro bowl, but that is just speculation.

Now let’s move on to the notable additions to the Chiefs’ cornerback room.