Chiefs news: Jaylen Watson played through serious injury for most of 2023

The Chiefs cornerback finally got surgery for a torn labrum dating back to Week 2.

As it turns out, Jaylen Watson had more on his plate this last season than anyone knew.

This last season, Watson put up another solid season by contributing in all 16 games to a dynamic young defense and added 33 tackles and 2 sacks—and he did it all while secretly needing shoulder surgery.

If that last bit made you sit up straighter, it should. It did the same for us. Watson enlightened Chiefs Kingdom to his condition via a surprising post on social media on Wednesday.

It's one thing to even play at this level for Watson but it's another to earn that amount of playing time and respond with his production while dealing with a labrum injury.

After just two years, Watson has already proven to be an impressive find for the Kansas City Chiefs. The former seventh-round pick earned a surprising amount of snaps from the moment he stepped onto the field at Arrowhead and he had a game-winning pick-six in his second professional game ever against the Los Angeles Chargers.

Coming into the 2023 season, the hopes were high for the entire secondary to grow together into an intimidating presence, and collectively they became so much more than that as they more often than not carried the team to their second straight Super Bowl victory.

Watson was a big part of that for the Chiefs as a reliable rotational corner who often did his work in the shadows behind the breakout campaigns of both L'Jarius Sneed and Trent McDuffie.

With Sneed potentially leaving in a tag-and-trade scenario, the door is wide open for Watson and fellow third-year corner Joshua Williams to find greater playing time (and impact) in '24 and beyond as they enter the second halves of their rookie deals.