Arrowhead Pride
Among the more curious developments for this year’s Kansas City Chiefs squad has been the cornerback rotation behind starters cornerback Trent McDuffie and cornerback Jaylen Watson.
Early in free agency, Kansas City signed veteran cornerback Kristian Fulton to a lucrative two-year contract. A month later, the team drafted California cornerback Nohl Williams in the third round — likely in preparation for Watson becoming a free agent after the season.
Unfortunately, Fulton missed most of training camp as he was recovering from a knee procedure. After returning to start the season, he then left Week 2’s loss to the Philadelphia Eagles with an ankle injury. For the next few weeks, he was either held out from (or limited during) the team’s practices — and then in the month leading into Kansas City’s Week 10 bye, he was a weekly scratch on game day.
In his absence, Williams’ defensive snap share varied greatly — from as high as 69% in Week 7 against the Las Vegas Raiders to only 7% against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 5. Pro Football Focus has given Williams a solid 72.6 grade for his limited snaps.
Then in Sunday’s Week 11 contest against the Denver Broncos, Fulton returned to the lineup, playing nine defensive snaps. Williams did not see the field on defense.
Before Thursday’s practice, defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo explained how he and defensive backs coach Dave Merritt worked through that timeline.
“We’ve been trying to get him back out there for a month,” said Spagnuolo of Fulton, “but first it was [his] health. Then, when we finally got over that hurdle — when Dave and I talked — it was, ‘Is he ready mentally?’ You’ve got to remember — and this is where I talked to Kristian — he’s been in a tough situation.
“If you guys go all the way back, when we got him in OTAs, he didn’t practice a lot. He was hurt. Got to training camp — he’s hurt. Then he went through, so he’s really a rookie in the system. So, there were a couple of weeks where it was about, ‘Does he have it all down?’ — and that took a little while. Then we got to the bye week and said, ‘This might be a time to get him out there.’ So that’s what we did.”
Merritt scoffed at any suggestion that Fulton wouldn’t have returned to the field when he was ready.
“Kristian was brought in here to play,” declared Merritt, “and I think we all know that. So when all of a sudden, a young man who was brought in here to play, when he’s ready to go, you’re trying to get him in there; you’re trying to get him in the rotation. He had some setbacks early in his career here, [but] he’s ready to go.
“We’re going to continue to try to give Nohl some snaps — as well as Kristian — but [Kristian] was brought in here to play for us.”
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