Rashad Fenton is wild card for Chiefs’ secondary success

The Kansas City Chiefs cornerback room saw a lot of changes this offseason. Several new players were drafted, a one-year reclamation project left for a new team, and a veteran starter also left to sign with a new franchise. At present, the big names on the depth chart include rookie Trent McDuffie and holdover L’Jarius Sneed but Rashad Fenton should not be overlooked.

After being selected with the 201st overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, Fenton has seen well over 1,000 defensive snaps for the Chiefs. Over those snaps, he has been a pleasant surprise for the Chiefs, given he was selected very late in the sixth round of the draft. According to Pro Football Focus ($), Fenton earned PFF coverage grades of (with 70.0-79.9 considered “above average”) 74.4 (across 198 coverage snaps), 74.6 (over 365 coverage snaps), and 77.3 (across 422 coverage snaps) in 2019, 2020, and 2021, respectively. The latter was good enough for ninth among all cornerbacks last season.

In 2022, Fenton will have to compete with rookies Trent McDuffie and Joshua Williams along with Sneed for starter snaps. With the departure of Charvarius Ward in free agency, there is a gaping hole on the outside for a younger corner to take over. The high majority of Ward’s snaps came on the outside, specifically on the left side, while Sneed almost exclusively played in the slot last season. Fenton, on the other hand, saw a healthy mix of inside and outside snaps but played more on the boundary.

Fourth-year cornerback Rashad Fenton is the longest-tenured corner on the Kansas City Chiefs in 2022. His play in 2022 will be a wild card for the defense.

Given the youth at the corner position, Sneed and Fenton, in particular, will be absolutely critical for a Chiefs defense going through a transition phase. Fenton has never played more than 600 defensive snaps in a season and that number is very likely to increase in 2022, assuming a healthy year. Because he has never been a starter for a complete season, it’s hard to project whether his solid play last season was due to the medium sample size, or if he really is that caliber of a player.

Fenton is one of the biggest wild cards on the Chiefs this season, let alone the defense. It is risky to rely on rookies at a position as difficult to master as cornerback, so the Chiefs are expected to rely heavily on their veterans, especially Fenton. If he can take a step forward, then the Chiefs may have a glimmer of hope of having a decent defense this season. If he takes a step back, then it may be 2018 all over again.

After Mike Hughes and Ward both left for new teams, the Chiefs’ depth chart at corner is going to look drastically different. They will have “old” faces such as Fenton and Sneed but they also have new faces, like Trent McDuffie and Joshua Williams. I personally expect Rashad Fenton to be relied upon heavily this year because he is the “old man” at cornerback for the Chiefs. I myself have a very high opinion of him compared to the rest of Chiefs Kingdom (I also consider myself president of the “Rashad Fenton Fan Club”) but if he reaches the ceiling that I believe he has, then the Kansas City Chiefs all of a sudden have one of the best—if not the best—young cornerbacks cores in the entire NFL.

What do you think of Rashad Fenton? Do you believe he will hold off the rookies for a starting spot the entire season? Feel free to let me know in the comment section or on Twitter (@StrozinskyLucas).