Adam Teicher, ESPN Staff Writer 6y

Even after acquiring a pair of CBs, Chiefs have work to do

The Kansas City Chiefs had six cornerbacks play at least 180 snaps last season. Of the six, Marcus Peters and Steven Nelson are under contract for next season. Among the others, Terrance Mitchell, Phillip Gaines and Kenneth Acker are potential unrestricted free agents, and Darrelle Revis is gone, having been released.

As such, it wasn’t just a desire to upgrade at some important positions that led the Chiefs to acquire a pair of cornerbacks: Kendall Fuller in the Alex Smith trade with Washington and David Amerson as a free agent.

Certainly, corner was a need for the Chiefs, who sorted through a lot of players without much success while looking for some consistent performances. But the Chiefs also needed some bodies.

Without acquiring Fuller and Amerson, the Chiefs would be closing in on free agency with only Peters and Nelson under contract as established players. Peters’ behavior, at times inexplicable last season, finally led the Chiefs to suspend him for a game late in the season. Do the Chiefs want to go forward with such a volatile player?

Nelson missed the first half of the season after having core muscle surgery and frequently struggled to play well after that.

The Chiefs shouldn’t be finished acquiring cornerbacks, given the way they went through them last season. That’s regardless of whether they keep Peters.

They’ll need to head into training camp with at least one and preferably two more cornerbacks they’re confident about. Perhaps they’ll re-sign Mitchell, who played well at times since joining the Chiefs two seasons ago. Maybe they’ll draft or sign as a free agent another corner or two. They could develop one of their younger corners, such as Keith Reaser, who played a lot in the final regular-season game in Denver.

But if their work at cornerback is finished, the Chiefs could come to regret that next season.

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