Chiefs: Is the Secondary Glass Half Full or Half Empty?

Chiefs: Is the Secondary Glass Half Full or Half Empty? – If you have followed ArrowheadOne and read my articles, you would know that my primary concern heading into the draft and Free agent period was that we had weaknesses in the secondary. I was worried about Linebackers too, since 2016, but primary things first: the Secondary and that means two working parts.

First you would have known that I was unhappy with Eric Berry at Safety and his inability to recover from injury and return to the field.

Second, that we only had one other player that I felt was worthy of starter type consideration and that was Armani Watts (but then was injured). I did like the acquisition of Jordan Lucas and he proved my point in the backup role and later at the end of the season and in the playoffs. He proved for me how ineffective Sutton’s stunts and player selection had become.

Lastly? I was unhappy with Daniel Sorensen as a starter, believing he best fit the hybrid SS/Nickel LB type role.

I then warped in my own “inner space” about cornerbacks. I do not believe as others, that CB Steven Nelson was the problem. I thought that Fuller had a down year and his play style and ability fit the slot. The year that the Chiefs would try to start Charvarius Ward– this was about half way through the season) and the other choices at CB were a wash at best.

Ward, acquired in a magnificent trade by Brett Veach in return for a lineman who was not going to figure in as starter, Parker Ehinger, proved my point at the end of the season with an INT at the end of the game that was a game changer — except another game changer, Dee Ford — altered the game’s fickle finger of fate and favor back to the Patriots, who then went on to win their way back to the Super Bowl.

Safety First! (Glass is Full)

Enter Brett Veach: he signed on Tyrann Mathieu, arguably the best choice to replace the released Eric Berry. Veach then went one better: he drafted as a top pick Juan Thornhill whose credentials posited him as the future center field type player of top talent — the perfect Free Safety to pair with Mathieu. Don’t get me wrong, because I still support Armani Watts. I still Support Jordan Lucas. I still support Dan Sorensen. KC went from rags to riches at the safety position. We have what I believe are 5 solid safeties.

CBs: Glass Half-Full or Half-Empty?

I start out here and say the glass is half empty — wait on it. As a result of getting through camp and preseason, it became apparent that the powers that be with the Chiefs organization believed part of what I have presented — that Charvarius Ward was indeed a starting quality player. Apparently they believed, as I did, that other than his first start in 2018, Ward played the outside Corner, with moxy, acumen and calmness of a pro football corner, as if he were a long tenured professional. The actions Veach to build a Cornerback group must have seen things this way to end up with the results this way.

Ward did not panic in the AFC Championship game, he played well and came up with that game changing interception… which I have previously alluded.

Playing Kendall Fuller in the slot CB role, where he was tops in the NFL in 2017, is the right player for that position. Veach must have agreed with me because next, he signed on Bashaud Breeland and then upped the ante at CB again by obtaining the services of Morris Claiborne. Now if you see this group forming up nicely Veach added Rashad Fenton in the draft.

It is a pretty solid group of players: Claiborne, Fuller, Ward, Breeland and Fenton. The only problem is Claiborne must sit out the first 4 weeks of the season on suspension.

So I pouted and whined: what will we  do, what will we do? So what do the Chiefs do? We can’t really go to war with four Corners! I wrote my aside and also had a phone conversation with our leader at ArrowheadOne, Ladner Morse, about this and I observed: this can’t be the plan can it? Go to war in week one with just four?

I tweeted the same thoughts and dismay on twitter to several including Ryan Tracy… RGR Football and Seth Keyser from The Athletic. Day two came and went but no new CB was signed and no trade was made.

The moved that the Chiefs made was to slide RB Tremon Smith back over to cornerback from RB, a position swap that comes two weeks after his talents were diverted from CB to RB.  The Chiefs suddenly boast five Cornerbacks with the new/old man, Smith, sporting #39.

At this point, our leader and I exchanged on this and Ladner Morse was saying that, “The Chiefs can’t get away from player speed can they?”  My response was, “Apparently,” so, yeah, think about it, they keep Dorian O’Daniel for speed as well right? I whined further: Smith is not the solution.

Whatever else occurred, we all watched the cut down day hoping for a big addition to the CB Room. So now? Go back and check it again. We have, for right now, RCB, Bashaud Breeland. In the Slot spot, Kendall Fuller (grins here) is back home where he belongs… on the inside. Then at LCB add in Charvarius Ward. CB Depth: Rashad Fenton and Tremon Smith.

To this group, Brett Veach added a respectable CBin Morris Claiborne but this has the obvious 4 game caveat. I still think this was a good solution for the Chiefs. Where’s the problem? Is it just me? Do I have the, “I want it all now mentality?” I am impatient to see this defense all together, all hitting on all cylinders, melded together and acting like ‘Controlled Chaos’ behind a group of Cape Buffalo* up front!

I do think Mo Claiborne is a very good addition and solidifies the group and takes worries away. Worries I’ve heard like… Bashaud Breeland is ranked worse than Steven Nelson… or this or that frightful thinking that is going on out there right now.

Is it the best group of corners around? Nope. However, it is solid enough to contend in the NFL.  The Chiefs have to believe they now have four solid corners. Read on to figure this out!

Back up in time a bit further: Brett Veach had brought in Keith Reaser of AAF fame and Reaser showed the world that he could play in that fledgling and failed Pro Football venue. Veach signed him on and he was playing solid football until he was knocked out for the season with a bad knee injury. Reaser was one of my research players for the 2019 season and it’s too bad he was hurt as I think he would have been a contributor, at the very least.

Also, in the draft the Chiefs added Rashad Fenton so there you have the Cornerback crew: Breeland, Fuller, Ward, Fenton and Tremon Smith who was brought back to the Cornerback group. That room now touts 5 players and we don’t have Claiborne on the field yet.

There are those that are going to exclaim about that group as being less than worthy. In reality, it is pretty good. You have all experienced players, except for Ward. None of them are “bad players,” Ward included.

We must wait and see how Breeland works at RCB but I see no reason to think he will fail. his skill set is similar to Steven Nelson or better. I am good with that unless of course it is a redux of a bad season but we are adding Claiborne after game 4 so I see this as a minor problem with that consideration.  At least Claiborne could practice and get in a pre-season game snaps for a short time before he had to depart as the season began, not being allowed in the Chiefs facility for the next four weeks.

Today, halfway through it, I think, yeah, they are going with the four cornerbacks to get to week five and have added Smith back to the CB room to make it five. If an injury occurs they will go fish for an fill-in CB. It’s the plan and it fits what I started out thinking: Ward is a true CB, plus Breeland, plus Fuller then and Claiborne. Fenton backing up.

As far as all the pouting about Ward? He proved himself in the crucible of the playoffs. I am sticking with my view that he is a starter quality CB and this was some real “Veach-voodoo” to get that trade done. Probably his best magic to date.

Back to the water glass? Half-Empty or Full? I started out as believing it was half empty due to Claiborne-absence for four games. I now am going to shift that view and say that it really is half full. If I believe Fuller is a top Slot Corner, that Breeland can handle the RCB and Ward the LCB, then the exposure is solidness and depth and that arrives back in game five with two guys for depth (Fenton and Smith). True: more moves could happen but now I see some logic to this that evaded me for three straight days. Waiting for a move here is similar to another wait that will go unfulfilled. that type of wait is something I wrote about a year or two ago. Not wishing to re-use that ideation of Samuel Beckett. I will use a 1960s/70s sitcom idiom instead: “I know Nothing!”

David Bell — ArrowheadOne

* Upcoming article on the big men up front!

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