Is Keith Reaser done-done?

I still have some hope there post IR

This guy just keeps making plays. He’s the real deal I think.

I'm impressed, although I hope he hangs onto the next easy interception.

Was he playing safety instead of Watts?

It sure seemed that way.

They all just play all over the middle of the field except Ward and Breeland

Spags is so good with DB’s.

That’s the biggest difference compared to Sutton, along with actually mixing things up.

I’ll eat crow for this pick.

With the exception of the outside corners, Spags has everyone playing anywhere on any given snap.

Flexibility is GOOD.

I think everyone will

He really looked bad in the preseason also. Glad it worked out.

Seems like nobody is giving this guy a shot at being a starter next year. I personally liked what I saw out of him and think he has a decent shot at turning into a solid starter.

Physically, there are no issues with Fenton. He can matchup and play off, or press and be great. He needs work with scheme discipline though, but that will improve with experience and time. He has a higher ceiling than Ward IMO.

This guy is good

God i love me some me.

Crow? I can't imagine anyone caring much either way for a SIXTH round pick.

For what it's worth, PFF has Fenton as their #1 graded corner in football right now.

Other than the fact that we got GREAT return on that investment! :)

I don’t think we’re talking enough about this guy.

He’s making that 2019 draft look MUCH better.

Looks to be the best cover corner. Sneed is still the best overall corner though. Reminds me of Brandon Flowers.

Looked good last season too.

Everyone keeps talking like taking Sorenson off the field fixed our secondary. It was more than that.

It was also:

1. Fenton taking over for Hughes
2. Ward back in the lineup.

I didn't care for him much coming out and didn't think he'd ever turn into anything. Glad to know I was wrong. :D

Andy Reid seemed to give Fenton an earful for the DPI call.

Andy seemed like he was considering it a mental error instead of a physical error. Andy rarely confronts a player during a game unless it is a mental error.

Coaches must be emphasizing no penalties. Maybe telling DBs to use less hands in coverage.

Having a phenomenal year. Ward Fenton and Sneed are a great set of corners and they've invested very little on them. That's how you continue to win with a 500 million dollar QB

He's the number 1 ranked CB according to PFF. Absolutely phenomenal. I said last year I thought he deserved more snaps as he looked super solid the first 2 years. But he's really stepped it up, what a complete steal.

As he should have. That was a dumb play by Fenton. At some point you've gotta take your hands off the guy.

Asking Fenton to not use contact with the receiver as part of his coverage is like asking Carrot Top not to use any props in his comedy act. He's always done it, and unlike Carrot Top, he's been successful in his career, since he hasn't drawn many DPI flags in his career up to this point.

This guys been more good than bad since he stepped in as a rookie to play slot CB against Denver. During the early Mike Hughes days i coldnt believe Hughes was still on the field over Fenton.

I know it's been beat to death, but man some of the defensive personnel decisions early in the season were real head scratchers.

Hughes played well in the preseason and the Chiefs figured his high draft profile in combination with playing well meant they had uncovered a legit starting corner?

I'm just spitballing. I have no idea either why Spags is/was in love with Sorensen and Niemann just because they've been here a long time yet chose to go with the new guy Hughes over a player who's been with the team for multiple years and done a pretty good job in that span.

Link? Love the kid, the reason I ask is because the last time I looked he didn't have very many stats.

I don’t get why people want Spags fired. He’s done a nice job with what he’s had.

Fenton
Sneed
Matheiu
Thornhill

Even Ward has looked good under Spags. He’s a true secondary guru. Gay and Bolton look good.

DL is the issue but we haven’t invested many draft picks in it recently.

It's been obvious for a long time that Fenton is a good cornerback. It's always been a mystery to me why he didn't play more.

This is where Veach needs to watch the movie Moneyball and release these two turds so the coach can't keep playing them.

And it's not worth very much. I remember when PFF tried to tell us Steven Nelson was an elite corner rofl rofl

But yeah he's good, he's looked good. No surprise but in no way shape or form is he the best CB in football.

According to Google, Carrot Top is worth $70 mil lol

Because he doesn't have any standout physical tools so there's always been a question if he could play on the boundary.

Guys like that typically do take a little time to develop into starters because they can't really make mistakes. They don't have the recovery speed or innate athleticism to make up for a misstep. So they have to be smart and develop a really good feel for route concepts, etc...

I still question if Spags is a decent DC but I've never doubted his ability to run a secondary and develop DB talent. I think that's why the Chiefs continue to put limited capital into their secondary - they believe (and thus far have been correct) that Spags and company can spin straw into gold.

Spags ability to keep the secondary performing at a high level after the loss of Thornhill before the 2019 playoffs is an understated component of what led us to a championship.

Finding a replacement for Fuller on the fly and allowing Fuller to slide into that role was a major accomplishment for a secondary that was at one point counting on Morris Claiborne to play a significant role.

And yeah, it was Fenton that made that possible when he and Mathieu sort of tag-teamed the slot CB role. Even Sorensen contributed in a big way by being a viable conventional 'strong safety' to free up Mathieu a bit.

It really was a nice use of seemingly mismatched parts.

Fenton is such a nice player to have. Playing a prime position at a dirt cheap price with nothing but a 6th round pick invested, and he's literally been solid since day one. Always seems to be in the right spot.

Love the guy.

I dont think people currently want Spags fired, im assuming that when they did was when we were repeatedly watching Sorenson give up tudders to guys like Dawson Knox with no adjustment.

Ward for the cost of a guy you were going to cut, Sneed for a 4th and Fenton for a 6th. That's been Veach's best work by FAR.

And you wonder how much is scouting vs. how much of it is coaching until you see Hughes and Baker go out there and pretty much suck. The coaches couldn't turn those two into anything viable (though I still think Baker could evolve into a Breeland sort of physical press corner due to his length and strength).

Veach has done an amazing job building a cost-effective secondary. He's gonna need to keep it up though - Ward's a FA this off-season, Fenton after next and Sneed the year after that. Gonna need to keep the pipeline going because even finding average CBs for less than $10 million/yr these days is a tall order.

When you lay it all out there like that and look at the entire picture, it makes it even more amazing.

Is there a corner trio in the league I'd take over Sneed/Ward/Fenton? Probably a few, sure. However, when you take into account the fact there was literally next to nothing invested in any of them and they are all playing for peanuts, I'm not sure there is a group that looks better taking all aspects into consideration.

As you mentioned, at a position where guys like Steven Nelson are getting $10 million a year, it makes all the difference in the world to the construction of the roster. Now we're seeing the same thing at C/RG where we'll have two elite talents playing for almost nothing the next 2-3 years, and hopefully RT will be the same deal.

Honestly, Steven Nelson is the name I keep coming back to w/ Fenton. And I know his name is mud 'round here since he was a monumental assbag, but he was still a really solid player for us.

Getting that kind of player for a 3rd rounder with Nelson was something of a steal but getting it in the 6th is an outright coup.

Fenton is tough as nails, never seems to make the really bad play, and can make the occasional big play.

Give me dudes like Fenton on any team.

Really solid player is a stretch. Barely avg corner is a better definition. I think Fenton is better than he is, though

I'm sure having a bye was huge to realign the secondary, especially seeing our playoff journey would have begun with Derrick Henry and a hell of a lot of play actions if we had the 3 seed. Hell, Spags found a way to make Sorenson look legendary in his defense and even had him lined up on Kittle for significant parts of the Super Bowl. Sorenson had an iffy Super Bowl, but he played well enough -- and that's all that mattered.

Fitzmagic i love u 4ever.

Sneed's skillset/abilities/makeup are so unusual, he'll have to be paid, IMO. Fenton, unfortunately, may be left out with Ward, although we should have some cap relief at safety (I hope).

I think so too. Fenton will get a nice contract somewhere but will be an excellent drafted player in his time here.

I think the same of Willie Gay. He’s been quality but there’s no way we’re paying him a 2ns contract. That’s for Bolton.

Sneed and Bolton are definitely getting 2nd contracts here

Depending on his development, I could see paying Gay as well and going young/cheap with the 3rd guy.

Chiefs coaches seem to think they can develop CBs if given enough clay. Hughes and Baker may not pan out, but they certainly possessed the right "materials."

The Chiefs have been looking for a LB with that kind of speed and athleticism for quite some time. I wouldn’t assume that Gay doesn’t get a 2nd contract.

No one finger-wags like Fenton.

https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-st...ut-format=auto

Sneed is probably going to cost around $15m AAV. Bolton likely around $13-14m AAV.

That’s not counting Creed Humphrey and Orlando Brown (I think we’ll pay him).

You can’t pay everyone with a Mahomes level contract on the books, but if we can squeeze someone in then it’s not Willie Gay.

IMO extra cash to keep our own should go to Trey Smith

So many of those bridges are WAY down the road, fortunately.

Exactly why it’s silly to try to predict who they will sign long term.

We have no idea how good these guys will be or if they will regress between now and then.

For now, let’s just enjoy having young talented players on rookie deals while adding more.

Dude….all of that is like 3-4 years away.

Let’s enjoy the moment.

and just keep adding good players in the draft. Just don't whiff.

It’s fun to enjoy now and look to the future. But I’m pretty confident in how good Sneed, Bolton, Humphrey and Smith will be unless they suffer a devastating injury.

But I do know that Patrick is gonna cost us $40+ million a season. Even with the cap rising that means you can’t sign everyone.

And I think guys like Willie and Rashad will get good offers from other teams. Too good to turn down less money just to stay with us.

Agreed. Sneed's the guy you plan on extending. But you'll still need to backfill for Fenton and Ward around him. Especially after Ward walks next year and Fenton gets a showcase season to really demonstrate his value.

If you could get Fenton extended prior to next season at a $5-$6 million AAV I think you'd be wise to do it. You'd be buying the dip, so to speak. You'd be getting him locked in before the cap really explodes and before he demonstrates his ability to play on an island. Worst case scenario is that he's over-exposed out there and you've overpaid a little bit for a guy who's more of a #3 CB, but that's not the kind of thing that will really hurt you going forward.

I'm betting his agents are smarter than to bite on that, though.

Bolton's skill-set is easier to find than Gay's.

If Gay can put the injury history behind him, he's the guy you sign. He combines Bolton's aggression with premier athleticism. And while Bolton's instincts are better, Gay's speed is just remarkable and makes him more versatile.

I LOVE Nick Bolton, for obvious reasons. But Gay, if healthy, is a guy that's just really damn hard to find.

It's the same sort of analysis as Sneed/Fenton. Gay's ceiling, like Sneed's, is so much higher than the other guy that you've gotta hold onto him.

But sadly we'll be getting cap relief from Kelce by then (who's gonna be nearing his ride into the sunset) and Thuney. Even Jones. We'll have a pretty lean cap situation when those decisions are needing to be made.

I think DJ has it right in regards to Gay/Bolton, but that's down the road.

The think with Bolton is, he may not have tested as well as hoped but the dude just plays so fast. He's so instinctual that he just makes up for it. I've been impressed with how quickly he's picked this up.

I'd have considered Bolton with a first rounder.

This is who he's always been. I never questioned if he'd translate to the NFL. He was as smart and instinctual a college player as I'd ever seen.

Josh Allen (Kentucky) was the only player at the college level that I'd ever seen completely control games defensively like Bolton could. He was everywhere.

When I first started my 1st round targets thread in the draft section last season I had Bolton, Humphrey, AND Smith on my list of 15 or so.

It’s just incredible that we ended up with all 3 without a 1st.

Shows how little you know

Apparently you missed the part where I said that this was at the beginning of the process…

Yeah, before everyone told you what to think when it was just you. Duh.

https://i.imgur.com/jUXhqfo.gif

Told everyone when Fenton started his first game vs the Donks that this guy is gonna be a damn good CB but I was told to pump the brakes. Very excited if you can suck my cock

Mahomo who hurt you

Gay does have athleticism but I think Bolton is harder to find. Willie is not a particularly smart player whereas Bolton is.

And Bolton is athletic enough. He was fast as shit to that TFL that Ingram caused. He came from across the field too.

I think Bolton’s IQ is the difference here. He’s a step faster due to that and can really pick up formations already. It’s just so valuable to have that type of QB of your defense in the middle of the field.

I would love to keep both but we’ll see

This is one of those things you pulled out of your ass. No idea what would cause to you reach that conclusion.

Gay was a limited snap player last season as he did not nearly have the starting snaps in college that Bolton had.

Also, Gay was playing behind a pair of starters that he was never going to supplant in year 1, even though he did see his snap count ramp up as the season wore on.

In Gay's time this season, i can't recall any egregious mistakes on his part. Not blown coverages, not missed run gaps etc.

Bolton OTOH, was rushed into starting snaps thanks to injuries to Gay and Hitchens. In that time he's blown a number of coverages and run gaps as he learns to play in the NFL.

There has been ZERO indication that Gay is not a particularly smart player, or even less intelligent than Bolton. That's a bunch of crap.

Yea that’s pure speculation.

Inexperienced does not equal not smart.

#2 actually. Behind Ramsey.

And while I think he's been playing great, somehow Hughes is #23, Sneed #61, Ward #70.

Gotta love PFF.

It's crazy like that.

I like PFF a lot overall. I can't follow every team. Viewing their lineups gives the skinny.

Mahomo and RunKC for prez and vice prez.

I don't agree that Gay's not a smart player. He's raw, but he's shown good instincts as well. He baited a passer into an interception by getting back in his drop and then waiting to crash. You could see him setting Jones up the whole way.

He's routinely done a good job crashing into the gaps and maintaining discipline.

I don't think he's an unintelligent player at all. I think Bolton has rare instincts but I also think that Bolton's being elite doesn't mean that Gay's can't certainly be good in their own right.

I can only think of one time that i really remember Gay over shooting and missing his gap. It's probably happened more, but it happened fairly often last year, his brain was slower than his feet. Hes been surprisingly solid so far.

He's been our most consistent LB this season imo

Nope, PFF updated it. Fenton is now 4 points ahead of Ramsey

Yeah I’m not saying Gay is a stupid player. I think Bolton is just so smart that he can easily be the QB of the defense like Hitchens was/is and that holds tremendous value.

I think they both fit together very nicely though. A LB corps of Bolton, Gay and Hitchens is as good as we’ve had in a long long time.