Penalties have been a problem for the Kansas City Chiefs over the past two seasons. They’ve been among the NFL’s penalty leaders in penalty count and penalty yardage the past two seasons. It’s an area that they’ll work to improve during the upcoming NFL season.
One of the biggest culprits of coverage penalties over the past two seasons according to Pro Football Focus is Chiefs CB Bashaud Breeland. Since the 2018 NFL season, Breeland has the second-most coverage penalties only to Panthers CB Eli Apple. Breeland first joined Kansas City in 2019, though, they had an interest in signing him as a free agent in 2018. He signed with the Packers in 2018 but didn’t play the full season. In fact, a majority of Breeland’s coverage penalties (10) came with the Chiefs in 2019.
Coverage penalties are calls like pass interference or defensive holding, basically any penalty that impedes a receiver while a defender is in coverage.
Obviously, this isn’t a great statistic for Breeland. The good news is that Breeland’s penalty issues didn’t cost the Chiefs much in 2019. They won the Super Bowl in spite of it. But this could still be an issue for Kansas City to address this upcoming season. When you factor in Breeland’s recent off-field issues and a four-game suspension to start the 2020 season for a violation of the NFL’s policy on substance abuse, it raises the question as to whether his job as a starter is safe moving forward.
The Chiefs added CB Antonio Hamilton in free agency and drafted two cornerbacks (L’Jarius Sneed and BoPete Keyes) during the 2020 NFL Draft. They also brought in a number for undrafted free agents at the cornerback position. Don’t forget the Chiefs have second-year CB Rashad Fenton primed for a bigger role this season. If Breeland is unable to get his act together on and off the field, he might find himself warming the bench in 2020.
