COVID-19 preparation has helped Kansas City Chiefs cornerbacks stay ready for injury adversity.
The Kansas City Chiefs have shown a lot of confidence in some young and untested players in the secondary this season. Despite recent injuries and a suspension at the position, they remain confident in their cornerback depth moving. Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo talked about the preparation behind getting these guys ready to play on Sunday. A major reason why everyone has been ready to step up is the message that the team has been preaching with the COVID-19 pandemic in mind.
“That’s a credit to Sam (Madison) and Dave Merritt who work with all those guys,” Spagnuolo told reporters on Thursday. “We felt going in, and we talked about this as a staff with the whole COVID situation that we had to have guys always ready to go, and then we didn’t know what was going to happen with what we’re dealing with in the world. So, the guys, the coaches, have taken that to heart. They’ve prepared all of these guys—corners, safeties, linebackers, D-line—like they could have to step up and play on a Friday.”
This group has been stressed from Week 1, without starter Bashaud Breeland out there and an array of injuries. When it comes to the cornerback group playing well through these first three games, Spagnuolo feels that the defensive line play has helped them out a little bit.
“Listen, we have been bumped and bruised out there at the corner, certainly losing Breezy (Bashaud Breeland) kind of hurt right from the beginning, but Rashad Fenton has done a great job, LJ Sneed was playing really good football. I feel really terrible for him in dealing with that injury, but it’s part of the league. And hopefully, we can get CW (Charvarius Ward) back, I know he’s going to have to deal with that hand a little bit. But they’ve got to step up. Our corners are really needed in the package that we play, and fortunately for us, our D-line has done a decent enough job that it’s made it a little bit easier for the corners on the outside.”
The next man up mentality is something that this team has preached each and every season, but it’s not always so easy to execute. This year the secondary has really taken the words of Coach Sam Madison to heart. They’re hungry and waiting for whatever opportunity may come their way.
“Well, what our saying in the room is, ‘Stay ready so you don’t have to get ready,'” Madison said. “Throughout training camp, we put a lot of these guys in a lot of different situations, as far as playing the nickel position, playing corner. With Coach Spags’ defense sometimes they have to go back and play safety, different things of that nature. We put them through a lot of different things, and they answered the bell.”
They worked hard throughout training camp to prepare for any possible scenario and so far they’ve been able to combat the adversity they’ve faced. Madison has specifically been impressed with how the two players expected to get the start on Sunday against the Patriots have stepped up in the wake of injuries.
“Rashad (Fenton), he stepped up as soon as Ward went down a couple of weeks ago and then he’s been playing phenomenal,” Madison continued. “Once again Sneed goes down and Ward was able to step right into it and didn’t miss a beat. He didn’t hesitate going out there, even with his hand situation that he feels is a whole lot better this week. It’s always the next man up. We’ve thrown a lot of different things at these guys and they just respond. Now we’re going to be getting Breeland back next week. Hopefully, we can get through this game and come out victorious, but still, they know that they’re going to be relied on a lot to play man-to-man, play the different zones and all the different things that we do. They’re up to the challenge. That’s the one great thing, they never back down from a challenge.”
The Patriots receivers will certainly pose a challenge for the Chiefs’ cornerbacks in Week 4. The unit is headlined by veteran Julian Edelman and former first-round draft pick N’Keal Harry. Damiere Byrd, Jakobi Meyers, and special teams ace Matthew Slater round out the group, offering a variety of different skill sets. As Madison explained, though, his cornerback group won’t back down from a challenge even if they’re banged up and depleted of depth.
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