Chamarri Conner's usefulness should not be questioned.
It's easy for Chiefs Kingdom to throw stones at the player clearly outmanned at key moments in pivotal games, which is what Conner has been myriad times throughout his three-year career. Most of those upsetting moments—for fans and player alike—have come when Conner is tasked with manning the opposing slot receiver.
Therein lies the primary issue involving Conner, which is unfortunate since some fans have thrown the proverbial baby out with the bathwater. Instead of giving Conner his credit in the places he excels (we'll get to that), he's labeled as a bust or some other troll-ish name and listed as yet another reason the Chiefs are where they are—on the outside looking in of the AFC playoff picture.
Tasking a player to do something out of his range is silly coaching on the Chiefs' part.
Chiefs fans aren't wrong in their frustrations with Conner. Even more maddening is the fact that the team's coaches haven't seemed to notice (or care, which is even worse). Somehow, despite this being an issue for far more than just the 2025 campaign, defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo and his staff are enamored with Conner manning the slot. And despite the massive body of evidence pointing to the lack of effectiveness in such a role, Spags keeps insisting otherwise.
The results have been brutal. The Chiefs have lost numerous close games in 2025, and the decision to hold Conner responsible for things beyond his skill set is an egregious one. The outcome of Sunday's loss to the Dallas Cowboys could have looked different if Conner wasn't trying to get the best of CeeDee Lamb inside—just to name one example.
Conner, who was the team's fourth round choice in the 2023 NFL Draft, is a solid safety who can play high and low. He's versatile in that way, and the Chiefs have leaned on him in previous games to great effect when allowing him to excel within his limits. And this is true of every player, so it's not even about calling Conner limited. The best coaches alter their game plans to enhance a roster's strengths and minimize its weaknesses.
What's even more appalling about the Chiefs' approach with Conner is that they have an answer inside. It'd be one thing if Conner was the best they had at a weak position. However, Trent McDuffie is elite in the same role as Conner, while the Chiefs have Jaylen Watson on the boundary. The only issue is that Spagnuolo stopped playing Nohl Williams, a rookie corner out of Cal, for unknown reasons, despite a very solid body of work through his first half-season. Instead, the Chiefs asked McDuffie and Watson to stay outside, where the former's lack of size hurt him at times, while Conner failed inside—a familiar tune that fans have heard for multiple seasons now.
Perhaps the injury to Christian Roland-Wallace altered a bit of the game plan on a short week. Perhaps there are good reasons for keeping Nohl Williams sidelined that fans just aren't privy to. Perhaps McDuffie is demanding the ability to remain outside because it's less crowded. This is all silly, of course, but so is the Chiefs' insistence that Conner is the right guy for the slot corner role.