The Kansas City Chiefs are set to add a new safety to the mix, agreeing to sign DB Adrian Colbert once he passes his mandatory COVID-19 screening. The team seems to want to add some more competition to the mix at the safety position, even with Juan Thornhill returning to practice for Kansas City.
It’s crucial for the Chiefs to have three safeties that can play on the field together in their big nickel package. They utilized it often last year, even late in the year after Thornhill had suffered his knee injury. It’s also important that Kansas City has enough bodies at training camp. With the amount of passing they do, safeties are doing a lot of running in practice and guys can get worn down quickly.
Here’s a look at three plays that show what exactly the Chiefs are getting in their newest player:
Good instincts
This is one of my favorite plays from Colbert because he wasn’t even credited for an assist on the play, but he absolutely makes the play happen. He’s lined up as the single-high safety — No. 36 for the Dolphins — the furthest from the play. He’s the last line of defense for his team.
You’ll notice that Bengals RB Joe Mixon gets every defender moving to their right, but Colbert sees what is about to happen. Mixon cuts it back and the defensive end loses backside contain. Instead of waiting for Mixon to come to him, Colbert crashes down and fills. Now Colbert misses the tackle, over-running the play slightly, but he also forced Mixon back inside where there are a number of friendly jersey’s ready to wrap him up.
It’s not perfectly executed, but the end result is a one-yard gain for the Bengals when it could have been much more. It came down to a good heads-up play by Colbert and an attacking mentality from the safety. That type of mentality and awareness will mesh well with the group that Kansas City currently has at the safety position.