KC Chiefs: Trent McDuffie injury will test cornerback depth early

Among the Kansas City Chiefs roster moves on Tuesday, the most significant roster move was shelving rookie cornerback Trent McDuffie on injured reserve. This means that McDuffie will miss at least the next four games including this Thursday’s AFC West showdown in the Kansas City Chiefs vs Los Angeles Chargers.

McDuffie, who was selected 21st overall in the 2022 NFL Draft, was playing very well for the Chiefs in the preseason and in Week 1 against the Arizona Cardinals until he got hurt. In fact, McDuffie was lockdown in the first game of his NFL career as he didn’t even allow a target in his debut.

Andy Reid said in a press conference that McDuffie strained his Hamstring and that the loose turf in Arizona’s stadium had a lot to do with the severity of the strain.

The Kansas City Chiefs will find their cornerback depth tested with Trent McDuffie on injured reserve.

It is unfortunate and less than ideal that McDuffie, who was slated to start alongside L’Jarius Sneed, will now be unavailable for the immediate future and for what might be the most difficult stretch of the Chiefs’ schedule. The earliest McDuffie could come back is Week 6 against the Buffalo Bills meaning he’ll also miss games against the Indianapolis Colts, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Las Vegas Raiders.

With McDuffie out, the Chiefs cornerback room consists of L’Jarius Sneed, Rashad Fenton, Joshua Williams, and Jaylen Watson. Obviously, both Williams and Watson are rookies with only one game under their belt. All of a sudden, they’re going to be depended upon as the Chiefs will be facing some of the best receivers in the league over the next four games.

Watson and Williams have both flashed so far in their short time with the Chiefs and the fact they were pushing for playing time as not only rookies, but day three draft picks is impressive. That said, this is a big ask. Especially considering the jump in competition for both.

The Chiefs cornerback room was already young and inexperienced with McDuffie. Sneed and Fenton are the only two veterans in the group but even they are still on their first contracts and are both being asked to play more prominent roles than they have at any time in their careers.

As for Sneed, he was the unquestioned No. 1 in the group for the first time in his career and was being asked to be one of the leaders of the secondary. Fenton was the first guy off the bench for most of his career and now we are looking at him being the No. 2 cornerback in the wake of McDuffie’s injury.

The Chiefs embraced this youth movement in the cornerback room this offseason when they added three cornerbacks in the NFL Draft and didn’t bring in any free agents. They moved on from veterans Deandre Baker and offseason acquisition Lonnie Johnson over the course of training camp which showed the Chiefs had extreme confidence in their young corners. We heard rave reviews from training camp and clearly they made it a priority to get them early playing time.

This was a possibility the team was likely okay with happening. They knew the cornerback room was young and inexperienced heading into the season. It is a risk and one many fans pointed out before the season began, It was certainly a position you pointed to and said, “If they have an injury we could be in trouble”. Well, that’s exactly where we’re at after one game. Do the Chiefs have enough to absorb the loss of McDuffie so early in the year? We will have to see. This stretch will be very telling and important as the Chiefs have an opportunity to create an early cushion in the division race and we will likely know if the Chiefs have enough at cornerback as their depth is tested due to necessity.