Given the departure of L'Jarius Sneed via trade, the Kansas City Chiefs' cornerback room has the door wide open for someone to step up. While the team knows it's hard to replace such a unique player directly, the hope is that the aggregate will help make up the difference.
Behind All-Pro Trent McDuffie, the duo of Jaylen Watson and Joshua Williams is expected to occupy the No. 2 and 3 spots (in some order) on the depth chart. Some combination of Nazeeh Johnson, Nic Jones, Ekow Boye-Doe and sixth-round 2024 NFL Draft pick Kamal Hadden could round things out. Safety Chamarri Conner might be an early favorite to fill a slot role in subpackages.
Kelvin Joseph may be on the outside looking in, but Kansas City sure isn't forgetting about him. The former Dallas Cowboys second-round pick from 2021 is finding ways to stand out in OTAs.
After session two of workouts, defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo addressed Joseph's progress.
"Early on, I couldn't get a real good feel, he's kind of quiet," Spagnuolo said. "But he's made some plays. I think if you were to ask our players, they're getting a little bit more confidence in him. He's been playing with the first group and a couple of reps there, he's made some plays for us. He made an interception a couple of days ago here in the red zone. Long way to go, but there's hope there. He's working well with the guys."
It's been a bumpy ride for Joseph since he entered the league. As a rookie, he appeared in 10 games but dealt with injuries and inconsistency. Struggles continued into 2022, as his workload remained similar and he surrendered a 147.9 passer rating when targeted in coverage. That led to the former Kentucky standout to be traded to the Miami Dolphins prior to last season. He played four games with Miami before later ending up with the Seattle Seahawks, where he lasted one game and has since signed with the Chiefs.
Despite all of that, Joseph's talent remains undeniable. During the pre-draft process, he generated quite a bit of buzz by running a 4.34-second 40-yard dash with a 10'8" broad jump. The 5-foot-11 cornerback's 9.01 Relative Athletic Score is a testament to his raw tools.
Defensive backs coach Dave Merritt is also a fan of Joseph's profile, although he admits the 24-year-old still has some work to do.
"Kelvin is another young man who has a lot of quick-twitch [athleticism]," Merritt said. "He's learning the defense, but he's just like a rookie. He's swimming, just like the other guys, because there's a lot thrown at them. This system here — as I've said before in the past — if you can learn this system, you'd be able to go and play in probably 95% of the other systems in the NFL. But it's just so much because we open up our entire playbook to these young men. Hopefully he's going to be able to step up, step in and be able to accomplish the things we want him to accomplish when it comes time."
The immense depth in the cornerback room makes it difficult to envision Joseph breaking out in Kansas City. With that said, as Merritt mentioned, he can find success in town or elsewhere if he can master Spagnuolo's system. It's a huge ask, but Joseph was selected 44th overall for a reason. He continues to stick around the league due to clubs' pre-draft assessments of him.
Can Joseph remind the league of that? He's off to a good start in OTAs.
