The Cornerback Room subtracted a significant contributor–Charvarius Ward when Veach let him go in Free Agency. Ward earned his payday and played solid football for the Chiefs. He wasn’t great, just a solid defender. The result left us two players with the Chiefs’ time and familiarity with DC Steve Spagnuolo’s defense: L’jarius Sneed and Rashad Fenton.
Also departing was Mike Hughes, a contributor on defense and special teams. Rashad Fenton was a 6th-round draft pick who played himself into starter snaps in 2020 and has been a good defender since then. He did rate very well in 2021 and was ranked the #2 CB by PFF.
We can probably look at the new CB depth as follows:
| Right Cornerback | L’Jarius Sneed | Deandre Baker/Lonnie Johnson | Jaylen Watson/Joshua Williams |
| Left Cornerback | Trent McDuffie | Rashad Fenton | Dicaprio Bootle |
The above chart considers previous experience, Bootle, who was on the active roster part of 2021, and the addition of Veteran Lonnie Johnson. Williams and Watson are new to the Kingdom in the 2022 draft. Right now, we also have Luq Barcoo and Brandin Dandridge in camp. We will have to see how this all works out as the players jockey for a position on the active roster, but that is a pretty good list. I believe that the Chiefs have something in both Williams(Fayetteville St) and Watson(Washington St). In the previous article on Thursday, I should have had Nazeeh Johnson(Marshall) at least featured as safety and neglected to get him in the report. That article can be referring back. See it here: https://arrowheadone.com/chiefs-the-new-backend-of-the-aerial-defense/
We are all familiar with Sneed and Fenton. I anticipate that they might start the year as the two CBs on the field until they go with a three-player set which is how they might break McDuffie into the rotation.
However, McDuffie is a good enough corner to be one of the pair. In which case, Fenton would rotate in, and Sneed would move to the slot. At least I see the threesome one of these ways. Lonnie Johnson and Deandre Baker could shift this view. We will see it unfold in training camp and the Pre-Season Games. As I anticipated the draft and late selections, I looked at Jaylen Watson, and Veach brought him aboard with a 7th-round pick. I thought he would go in the 5th-round or even before. The player I did not consider was Joshua Williams, but the more I looked at him, the more favorably I see him in the future.
As far as coming up in run defense, the guys in camp who are physical in run defense include Deandre Baker, Trent Mcduffie, and Jaylen Watson. We should watch closely to see how much the snaps go to Watson and Johnson as camp opens. We may see Watson push for a more prominent role than anticipated. Josh Williams is a taller Corner, and my impression is he is quite physical in his own right. Johnson provided the Texans with 55 tackles in 2021, adding 3 INTs. An initial appraisal of the players involved as an idea of who is in the active player mixed appears to be solid versus the run. In round two, Johnson was drafted out of Kentucky in the 2019 draft by the Houston Texans.
That covers the players that are vying for the active roster and PS. Just as with any other position group, it’s a wait-n-see situation. From the players listed, though, I think the competition as the OTAs end, and then we will see in camp. One thing to note is that Dicaprio Bootle was promoted to the active roster in 2021, and Lonnie Johnson is an experienced hand.
David Bell – ArrowheadOne