Laddie Morse
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Today we need to remember the fallen, those who have served in War for the sake of our free county and sacrificed the greatest of sacrifices. Today is a day for honoring our U.S. military personnel who have died while serving in the United States armed forces.
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DB can mean two things if you’re a Kansas City Chiefs fan. It can mean Defensive Backs or it can mean Decibels. It so happens that my father not only served in WWII in the Air Corp — now the Air Force — but he spent his life as an acoustical engineer, helping those who needed a decibel fix. I know what you might be thinking… who in the world would need a decibel fix? Well not only did governments want to take their jet engines down a few decibels but churches wanted to make sure they could be heard from all over their sanctuaries.
One of he most intriguing decibel fixes came when Allen Alda (star of of the TV series “Mash”) wanted to make sure his cars, which he had many a hot rod, weren’t going to be too loud for his neighbors. A precautionary tale to be sure, but since his driveway ran near to his neighbors house, he wanted to be sure. BTW, none of his cars were too loud. Can you say, “NICE GUY!”
I may have mentioned before that the decibels in Arrowhead are loud — a record 142.2 decibels — and that may largely be because of the oval shape of the stadium. I had been to several weekend jobs with my father over the years measuring the decibels of large synagogues and cathedrals at different spots so parishioners could hear the preacher all the same, no matter where they sat. My father of course, did much of this weekend work for free. What a guy!
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DB can also mean Defensive Back when talking about the Kansas City Chiefs. It won’t take long before you come across the name of Dave Merritt upon having this discussion. Merritt has made sure the DBs in K.C. are always in the right place at the right time and his skills training is second to none. We are fortunate to have Dave Merritt in K.C. and it will likely be one of his last seasons here in 2024.
Let’s take a look at some of the talent Merritt has to work with this season.
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Cornerbacks – DBs
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Trent McDuffie
McDuffie is entering his third year in K.C.. He was a first round pick in the 2022 NFL draft and was traded up for by the Chiefs and they took him with the 21st overall pick. The Chiefs traded their 29th, 94th and 121st picks overall with the Patriots to move up and take McDuffie. Since McDuffie came in the league he has shown to be worth every penny and cap dollar the Chiefs gave up to get him. McDuffie was in on 95% of the snaps when he was a rookie and 97% of the snaps last year. It makes you wonder why he’d ever be asked to come out of the game?
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Joshua Williams
Williams was also taken in the 2022 NFL Draft and was taken with the 135th pick overall. He played his college ball at Fayetteville State and is 6-foot-3, weighing in a 197 lbs. Williams had a critical INT in his rookie year as follows (0:12):
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I suspect Williams will play a big role in Dave Merritt’s plans in 2024. He had a great INT in the 2023 AFC Championship late in the game against the Bengals, becasue of a tipped pass by Bryan Cook (0:39):
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Jaylen Watson
Watson was also a 2022 draft pick and was a 7th rounder taken 243rd overall. He had a game changing INT in his rookie year against divisional rival Los Angeles Charges. Here’s a great explanation of that INT (1:14):
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Watson is also tall for a CB — 6-foot-2, 197 — like Joshua Williams, and used his height to go up and snag a big one vs Trevor Lawrence (0:16):
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Nic Jones
Nic Jones was drafted in 2023 with the 250th selection, a 7th round pick. Nic is 6-foot-0 and weighs in at 189 lbs.. He saw his first action in game 4 last year and helped K.C. win their second Super Bowl in a row over the San Francisco 49ers back in Feburary of this year. Here Nic Jones talking to the Kingdom Queens about being drafted by the Chiefs (0:40):
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Here’s Nic Jones makign a tackle in the backfield (0:12):
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Kamal Hadden
Kamal Hadden is 6-foot-1, and weighs in at 190 lbs. and played all of the past three seasons for Tennessee. He was drafted this year in the 6th round, 211th overall. Hadden had an injury plagued Senior season and was lost for the rest of the year after a shoulder injury in week 8 against the Alabama Crimson Tide. He’s all better now, but please be informed that both David Bell and I both think it takes a full year, and the following season, to go by before any player is normally able to resume performing to their previous abilities. We’ll see, but I’m not guessing Hadden will make his mark this year. However, in 2025… watch out. Here, Kamal Hadden appears to have the right attitude coming to the Chiefs (0:51):
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Safeties – DBs
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Justin Reid
Justin Reid was signed two years ago when the Chiefs decided to move on from Tyrann Mathieu. Reid played four years for the Texans and the last two years for the Chiefs, their Super Bowl winning seasons. Over those last two years Reid has played on 97% and 98% of the snaps. He also has 8 INTs in the 6 years he’s been in the league. Two years ago Reid signed a $31.5 M deal wit the Chiefs and this is his las year on that deal. This season he’ll make the most with a 14.25 M amount coming off the books. At 6-foot-1 and 207 lbs. Reid has been an above average defender although he’s been better when Steve Spagnuolo has him in the slot:
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I’d expect to see Reid playing in the slot more in the coming year.
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Bryan Cook
Mike Edwards will be missed but Bryan Cook will make fans forget about Edwards. Cook is a 6-foot-1, 206 lbs. Safety that came to K.C. through the 2022 draft as a 2nd round pick, #62 overall. Cook runs the 40 in 4.59 but not only plays faster than that but is a big hitter. I remember saying to David Bell that Chiefs fans will love his big hitting when they finally get to see it. It may not happen until the 2025 season but Cook went on the Injured Reserve list in December last season with an ankle injury. Just an interesting side note is that Cook went to the same college as Travis Kelce: Cincinnati. Probably my favorite play from the 2023 season involved Bryan Cook when he took a lateral from Mike Edwards and returned it all the way for a TD (0:16):
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Just as significant a play was when Cook, during his rookie season, prevented a TD with the kind of play we hope our Safeties can make on a consistent basis (0:10):
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Chamarri Conner
Conner is a 6-foot-2, 206 lbs. Safety with 4.51 speed. Conner is a 4th round pick, #119 in last year’s draft (2023). Conner plays the Nickel and Dime, is adept at both and makes calls as a replacement for Justin Reid, so we have someone who can step-up and step-in whenever needed. Here’s HC Andy Reid talking about Chamarri:
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Here’s a great play that shows what Conner can do, he wears #27 (0:21).
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Here’s McDuffie talking about Conner:
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Nazeeh Johnson
Nazeeh Johnson was drafted in 2022 with the 259th pick, a 7th round selection. Nazeeh stand 5-foot-10 and goes 199 lbs.. He ran a 4.38 and should be able to keep up with any speedster across the league. Here is Nazeeh Johnson’s mother on Kingdom Queen podcast sharing how jazzed she is for Nazeeh to contribute in the 2024 season (1:05):
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When last offseason began, DC Steve Spagnuolo was talking about how much the DBs were chatting each other up on the field and off. While one of those DBs was Nazeeh Johnson, I’m with these lady’s who are excited for the 2024 season to begin. A big part ofthe reason is… Nazeeh Johnson.
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Jaden Hicks
Jaden Hicks is a hybrid DB and if you are familiar with DC Steve Spagnuolo at all, you know that Jaden Hicks is exactly the type of guy he loves to employ. Hicks stands 6-foot-2 and weighs in at 211 lbs.. That’s kind of large for a Safety but his 40 time of 4.50 is blistering fast for a guy who will sometimes be playing the LB position, or sometimes the CB position. Who knows what Spags will be doing with him, but it’s safe to say: we will see Jaden Hicks on the field this year. Any time you get one-on-one time with Steve Spagnuolo as a player, it’s a good thing (0:18)!
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Other DBs on the Roster
Here are a few more DBs listed on the Chiefs website wit their Name, Height, and Weight listed on order:
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L’Jarius Sneed may be gone to Tennessee but I think the CHief have put together an admirable list of DBs… and I’m not talking about decibels.
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Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne
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