Five Chiefs who could make Kansas City unstoppable in 2022
Joshua Williams
When the Chiefs drafted Joshua Williams out of Fayetteville State I loved the pick as a long-term investment. My thought was that Williams would probably need a redshirt year to adjust to the NFL game from such a small program. I was genuinely shocked that he was the first man up with the starters when Rashad Fenton was out early in camp with an injury. While Williams certainly needs development, the fact that he held his own relatively well so far is a promising sign.
Some people might have expected to see fellow rookie corner Trent McDuffie on this list. It may be unfair to McDuffie, but I am just assuming he’s going to be fine as an outside corner as a rookie. He was great in coverage in college and continued to show that same skill so far in training camp and preseason games. However, I don’t think we’ll probably ever see McDuffie be a guy that gets a lot of interceptions or pass breakups. McDuffie’s small stature and short arms make it harder for him to get his hands on passes. His greatest asset is covering a guy well enough that the ball doesn’t get thrown to his man at all. However, if lined up with a much larger receiver that excels in contested catches, there is a potential for McDuffie to struggle there because of his size.
This is where Joshua Williams comes in. Williams is 6-foot-3 with really long arms. He has the physical size to cover almost any receiver the NFL can throw at him. While he played against much lesser competition, that size lead to him being able to get his hands on a lot more passes. While McDuffie had 8 career pass deflections in 27 college games, Williams had 26 pass deflections in 29 career games. While he’s going to have to prove he can keep with NFL receivers well enough to put that length to use, there is a physical upside there that could be a HUGE advantage for the Chiefs on the outside (both figuratively and literally).
Honestly, I could/should have included Jaylen Watson in this discussion as well. Watson really came on strong as the preseason went on. While he isn’t as tall or long as Williams, he is 6-foot-2 and could also prove to be a larger outside corner to contrast guys like McDuffie and Fenton who are both under six feet. The reason I ultimately went with Williams is that he has both the most impressive physical stature and the most prolific pass-deflection production in college (Watson had 7 career pass deflections in 15 college starts).
If the Chiefs want to make it out of the AFC this season they are going to have to face teams with big receivers. I’m talking about guys like Mike Williams and Tee Higgins that are both 6-foot-4. Trent McDuffie and Rashad Fenton can both play well, but it’s hard to cover a guy that is five inches taller than you and has longer arms. That is why it would make the Chiefs significantly harder to beat if Joshua Williams proved to be a player the Chiefs could count on at outside corner this season. That’s a big ask for a rookie from Fayetteville State, but if it happens it would be huge for KC.
Next up, one more rookie who made the list.