The Case of Bashaud Breeland Gets Curiouser and Curiouser

The Case of Bashaud Breeland

Gets Curiouser and Curiouser

by Laddie Morse

Wow, what a world wind two days of… ultimately, nothing. The Kansas City Chiefs need help at the corner back position, right? Right. The Chiefs reworked the contract of RB Spencer Ware to presumably make room to sign another player, right? Right. CB Bashaud Breeland offered at least average — maybe better — skills at the CB position and was in town for a visit… in fact, he stayed here for two days (but it seemed like two months). So why is Bashaud Breeland heading to Indianapolis and Cleveland to visit other teams?

The answer to that question gets curiouser and curiouser considering what happened while Breeland was in St. Joe visiting the Chiefs. However, not as curious as what happened while he was in St. Joe. Let’s start at the end.

Breeland has already been to Oakland to visit with the Raiders and while he still has visits planned with the Colts and Browns, the story doesn’t start there. Bashaud Breeland had signed a contract with the Carolina Panthers for 3-years and $24M. However, he had a cut on his foot and then an infection which voided the contract. The voiding of that contract is the first “curious” count in a growing number of curious conditions surrounding Breeland.

Assuming the Panthers had vetted Breeland as a corner, there was no reason they would not want to look past something as insignificant as an infection. So, why did they pull the contract? Was there something they found out about Breeland after they signed the deal? Were they simply unhappy with the deal from a financial standpoint? The point about that whole interaction is that it only leaves unanswered questions.

Bashaud Breeland then waits for his foot to heal and has his agent set up a tour of teams which included the Chiefs. It’s standard practice to have free agents come in for a visit but the nature of Breeland’s visit was beyond the pale. Breeland played with Kendall Fuller who is a corner now with the Chiefs. He’s also friends with Sammy Watkins from when they both played at Clemson together. However, Breeland is best buddies with Jarvis Jenkins so there are good personal reasons for him to want to play in K.C. for the Chiefs.

There’s not much that’s unusual about Breeland visiting a team with friends on it. However, it is unusual to come out onto the practice field and hang out an extra day… then leave like it was just another whistle stop. Head Coach Andy Reid said he didn’t want Breeland to have to sit all day long in a dorm room so he allowed him to come out and walk around the field. The strange thing is… he stayed out there all day and walked back inside when the Chiefs players walked back inside. You could reason that Wednesday — the last day of Rookie Training Camp — was the perfect day for a visiting free agent like Breeland to stroll around on the practice fields: QB Patrick Mahomes wasn’t playing pitch and catch with anyone and no plays were being installed, so what could it hurt?

Was I a bit over anxious for the Chiefs to sign Bashaud Breeland? Yes. The Chiefs need help at that position and even if Breeland is only an average CB, he could help a depleted corp group… until Brett Veach can presumably draft some corner help high in next year’s draft, or in Free Agency next year. I wasn’t the only fan awaiting the Bashaud Breeland decision. The only time I can remember watching a players decision this closely was when LeBron James took his talents to South Beach. Yes, it was that crazy on Wednesday. 

Here’s a tweet showing just how crazy things got:

No one knew if he was coming or going… if he had signed a deal and was awaiting the results of a physical examination… whether he was waiting for his uniform to appear so he could take the field. Jeesh… it was both frustrating and confusing.

Bashaud Breeland was walking around in white socks and his open toed sandals flashing the peace sign for the crowd… giving off the impression that he was settling in. Apparently not!

No one knows where Bashaud Breeland will land. He certainly could be right back here in the next day or two. If he does come back to K.C. it won’t actually be that big of a deal. We can only hope GM Brett Veach wasn’t offering 3-years and $24M… or anywhere close to that. Which, is likely what Breeland is holding out for. In terms of the best of situations, the Chiefs have Oakland, Indianapolis, and Cleveland all beat by a mile. If “the best situation” is what Breeland is looking for and plays heavily into his decision, then K.C. is probably his best call. If it’s all about the money, the Colts have around $50M in cap to spend while the Browns have around $69M to play with (and we all know John Dorsey likes to play with his cap money like he’s playing Monopoly against a group of 3rd graders).

Craig Stout has a bunch of video breakdowns on Bashaud Breeland – the good, the bad, and the ugly — on his Twitter account so go here if you’d like to see more on him. By the way, to show you how nutty Wednesday was, Craig Stout followed up all that work he did on Breeland by tweeting this out once he left town:

So, what do you think Chiefs fans? Are you still hoping Bashaud Breeland signs with the Chiefs? Or, are you done with the drama?

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