The Kansas City Chiefs added a variety of new cornerbacks during the 2020 offseason.
While the starters might be entrenched, secondary and cornerbacks coach Sam Madison welcomes the competition. He coaches a position that’s always in need and often in short supply. So when the 2020 NFL Draft came around, he had some expectations that the front office would get him some players. Despite waiting until Day 3 of the draft, Madison feels like Brett Veach was able to get him a good pair of corners.
“I love it, man,” Madison said. “I told [Brett] Veach last year that we didn’t get any corners and he was like, ‘Sam, just relax there’s going to be some more’. Then luckily for these two guys [L’Jarius Sneed & BoPete Keyes] and we get them into the room now and we understand and see why he felt that way. These guys have been spot on, very good with the questions that we ask on a consistent basis. The things that Coach Spags [Defensive Coordinator Steve Spagnuolo] asks of them they’re doing their best right now. So, if they’re willing to do this and continue to do it throughout the course of their career that means they did some really good work on the backgrounds of these kids. Me and Coach [Dave] Merritt are enjoying them every day.”
Beyond starters Charvarius Ward and Bashaud Breeland, Coach Madison has a number of options to choose from this season, many of whom are competing for the No. 3 cornerback spot. In addition to the two rookies mentioned above, Madison is excited to what free agent CB Antonio Hamilton can do.
“Hamilton. We brought him in to be able to come out and compete but when you look at the landscape of offenses this year, you’re going to have three wide receivers on the football field every single time so you need to find that third corner,” Madison said. “Having an opportunity to draft Sneed, a big corner, physical guy, knows how to attack the ball at the highest point. Those are the things for each and every last one of our guys that we need to get better at as the percentage is 50/50 of balls thrown downfield. Sneed, Keyes, you look at Hamilton, we brought in men to come in and solidify themselves.”
Another player that Madison mentioned who will be in the mix is second-year CB Rashad Fenton. He played in just 15% of the Chiefs’ defensive snaps during the 2019 NFL season, but he made quite the impression in limited opportunities.
“One guy I’m excited about is Rashad Fenton. You look at later on in the season, even going into the Super Bowl the kid, he made plays. He has to see those concepts, understand them, Tyrann was able to help him and work through them and we were able to put a pretty good run with these guys. Going later on when Breeland went down a couple of series, he went out there and he played corner and he held his own. We’re going to put these guys, just like we did last year, in a lot of different places and see what comes up. Coach Spags has a really good mixture of guys that he can play with. We can coach these guys up and get them to understand how to play together, the sky is the limit, going out there and making plays.”
With new additions and returning contributors, Madison is looking in one thing in particular when it comes to these guys earning playing time on defense in 2020.
“Playmaking ability,” Madison said. “Coach Spags is always talking about it and we preach it. Getting the ball back to the offense as many times as possible. We had guys in positions last year and looking forward we’re looking for guys to make those plays. In your first year in the scheme, in the defense you don’t really know how to make the plays because you don’t understand the scheme, but now they’ve been into it for a year. They understand how to make the plays, where the play is going to be made because now they understand Coach Spags’ system and what’s the reasoning behind the things that he’s doing.”
Madison isn’t alone in thinking the defense can do a better job taking the ball away. Tyrann Mathieu also felt the Chiefs’ defense could have been better as it relates to ball production. Once the Chiefs finally hit the practice field, we’ll have a better idea about which of the new cornerbacks are ready to step in and be playmakers for the defense.
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