Laddie Morse
The Kansas City Chiefs are loaded at the cornerback position. Some may not like the idea that K.C. doesn’t have a premier CB in the league… someone like Sauce Gardner, Jalen Ramsey or Darius Slay… but in the Chiefs DB coach — Dave Merritt, seen below — K.C. has one of the best ever (4 times Super Bowl Champion) and makes an immediate impact no matter who the Chiefs bring in each season.
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L’Jarius Sneed
Sneed is entering his 4th season with the Chiefs. He was originally drafted in the 4th round with the 139th pick overall. He was re-drafted to the top ten by season’s end of that year and has been a stellar place holder and one of DC Steve Spagnuolo’s best chess pieces ever. The reason for the chess piece comment is, Sneed has become an indispensable part of the defensive backfield and is able to move around and play any position: outside CB, slot CB and Safety. It’s also been rumored that he’ll be the frst one offered an extension once DT Chris Jones is re-singed and I be highly in favor of that move (0:28).
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While some are siting the Chiefs recent history of not retaining DBs, I’m hoping they can reverse that trend and keep Sneed around for the remainder of his career in the bigs. The need for Sneed looms large in my mind.
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Trent McDuffie
Trent McDuffie was drafted in the first round last season and with that lofty pick, comes mighty high expectations. However, in game one of the 2022 season vs the Arizona Cardinals, McDuffie injured his hamstring and was out until week nine, when he was activated. His first game back against the San Francisco 49ers was a perfect game for his return, with no one to battle against as a feature WR (for the 49ers). In a piece by ChiefsWire by Charles Goldman called: “Chiefs CB Trent McDuffie picked up where he left off in his return from injury” he quoted McDuffie as saying:
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“I’m like ‘man, I just miss being out there with the boys.’ I miss being in the crowd, so finally getting back here and having a game like this, the leg felt good and it’s a big confidence boost going forward.”
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McDuffie’s positive attitude and love for the game come shining through. It’s har to measure the impact of an attitude like that but he played the rest of the year and was excellent, one of K.C. best first round picks ever. While he didn’t have any other injuries last year, he finished the season playing on 95% of the available snaps on defense making the most of his time on the field. Although McDuffie didn’t have any INTs last year he did have one sack and batted the ball loose from Russell Wilson on the same play in week 17 (0:06):
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Jaylen Watson
Watson was drafted in the 7th round of the 2022 NFL Draft with the 243rd pick overall. He, along with Josh Williams (see below) are the main reasons why I said earlier that the Chiefs are loaded at CB. Watson had an INT which he took for a 98 yards for a TD game breaking return. The score was 17-to-17 at the time of his pick in the 4th quarter. However, his INT vs Joe Burrow and the Bengals in the playoffs may have been bigger (0:16):
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Josh Williams
Williams was drafted in the 4th round last year with the 135th overall selection. Williams is tall at 6-foot-3 (and 197 lbs.) while Jaylen Watson is also tall at 6-foot-2 (and also 197 lbs.). That gives the Chiefs two good and tall corners who can cover or are good in zone. In an article by Nate Christiansen for ArrowheadPride he said:
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While neither [Watson or Willams] of these Day-3 players was expected to contribute immediately, both exceeded expectations right away — so much so that the team felt comfortable trading fourth-year cornerback Rashad Fenton to the Atlanta Falcons at the trade deadline. The Kansas City front office and coaching staff deserve credit for finding these two players — and developing them so quickly.
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While I wish K.C. had kept Fenton — I was a fan — the emergence of both Watson and Williams helped considerably and they were the starters of record when the Chiefs whipped the Eagle to come away with the league’s highest prize: the Lombardi Trophy. In week 7, Williams came away with a great pick at the goal line vs the 49ers (0:11):
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Although this was a rush-related pick, because Spags sent 7 players to rush the QB, it was a very good play made by Williams. He finished the year with two INTs.
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Nazeeh Johnson
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Nazeeh Johnson was drafted last year in the 7th round. Johnson is a 5-foot-10, 199 lbs Safety who played strictly on Special Teams in 2022, he had 96 snaps, or 33% of the Special Teams snaps. Special Teams coach, Dave Toub Chiefs Special Teams coach, recently said of Nazeeh Johnson:
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“… towards the end of the year Nazeeh Johnson, as a gunner, he was playing better than anybody in the league. So I’m excited about him who[‘s] probably our number one gunner coming in the next year.”
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While Nazeeh Johnson has obviously etched a spot for himself on Special Teams, I’d be surprised if DC Steve Spagnuolo didn’t throw him in on defense for a few plays thus year, especially since he knows how well Johnson has done as a gunner.
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Nic Jones
Jones was the Chiefs 7th round pick this season, 250th overall. He stands 6-foot-0, 185 lbs. and played for Ball State. Since the Chiefs don’t usually give up on their draft picks early, I’m projecting him as a 53-man keeper.
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Dicaprio Bootle
.Bootle has been elevated and waived several times in his two years as a UDFA. I expect he’ll get the same treatment this year.
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Other Corners
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While the Chiefs scouts have been diligent to bring in talented DBs, the final CBs should be made up of Nazeeh Johnson, Nic Jones, or Dicaprio Bootle.
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Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne
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