Touchdown Wire kicked off their annual top positional lists, but the Kansas City Chiefs have yet to have a player make the cut.
Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar has named the top safeties, slot defenders and outside cornerbacks in the league thus far. Kansas City has been noticeably absent from the list, save for former Chiefs DB Tyrann Mathieu. It’s not all that surprising to see a largely revamped safety group left off that particular list, but it feels like there are some corners on the roster that are worthy of recognition among the top in the league. At the very least the team has two players worthy of an honorable mention, which they didn’t receive.
Let’s start with the team’s longest-tenured veteran, former sixth-round draft pick Rashad Fenton. Among cornerbacks with at least 500 defensive snaps last season, Fenton had the sixth-best overall grade in the league from Pro Football Focus. He was the only Chiefs cornerback to not allow a touchdown in coverage during the regular season last year, also allowing less than 70% of passes to be completed in his coverage. He was also the Chiefs’ top-ranked corner in ANYA/CS (Adjusted Net Yards Allowed per Coverage Snap) last season, which is a statistic developed to better quantify cornerback play. He came in No. 25 overall among 78 qualifying cornerbacks.
Then there is L’Jarius Sneed, who has emerged as the top cornerback from the 2020 NFL draft class as a fourth-round pick. He burst onto the scene as a rookie playing outside corner, recording interceptions in his first two career games. Injury stifled his rookie campaign, but when he came back he’d begin playing both nickel and outside cornerback. Last season, which was a tough one for Sneed personally due to the loss of his older brother, Sneed recorded the second-most defensive stops of any cornerback in the NFL. That’s all while missing a few games too.
Rookie cornerback Trent McDuffie hasn’t played a snap in the NFL, so he wouldn’t have qualified for Touchdown Wire’s list. Regardless, he was statistically one of the best cornerbacks in college football last season. He allowed just 16 catches on 36 targets for 111 yards and no touchdowns surrendered on the year. He actually hasn’t surrendered a touchdown since 2019 and has only allowed two receptions of more than 20 yards in his entire college career. People will try to discredit McDuffie for his size, but that didn’t seem to make any difference over three seasons with the Washington Huskies.
Maybe the Chiefs don’t have any outside or slot cornerbacks worthy of being recognized on a list of the top-12 players heading into the 2022 season. While Fenton and Sneed might have some statistics that make them worthy, they don’t have the longevity, name recognition or accolades to match.
That said, this group is hardly one to be slept on. These three players, along with others on the roster, are fully capable of putting up performances that could establish each as a top cornerback in the league. It’s just a matter of putting it together once the new season begins.
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