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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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Spagnuolo also noted that Williams was part of some defensive personnel packages that weren’t used in Denver.
“We can’t get everybody out there,” he said. “We had some packages for Nohl, and we didn’t really get to him. There’s only so many corners out there at one time — especially when we didn’t play Trent as much at nickel. We’ll see how the reps go this coming week, but both of those guys are probably going to play at some point for us.
“I thought Kristian did a pretty good job. He had that one that I’m sure he would have liked to have back — that long pass play — but we’re going to need all these guys down the stretch.”
Merritt added that usage across the secondary will be planned according to the matchups the team expects to see in every game — so he expects each defensive back to stay ready.
“I tell all the guys, ‘You’re all starters.’ You have to be ready to go,” he explained. “When we put together a game plan — whether it’s safety Jaden Hicks over another guy — who you put in to play that particular week is all based on the offensive personnel we’re facing.”
Merritt also knows that mixing and matching cornerbacks and safeties against particular teams and players is a problem other coaches might love to have.
“To have the luxury of having multiple corners — as well as multiple safeties — is something that a lot of teams don’t have,” he acknowledged. “The fact that Nohl was able to play early and get a lot of experience — that helps him out as well as helping us out. As far as whether it is still up in the air, I think it’s just a rotational deal. We’re just trying to make sure that for that particular game plan — whoever we’re playing against — ‘OK, his skillset suits us a little better here.’”
