While Kansas City Chiefs slot corner Kendall Fuller hasn’t been formally diagnosed with an injury by the team, new comments from Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo suggest he could be dealing with something.
If you’ve been down to St. Joseph, Missouri, for Chiefs training camp you may have noticed that Fuller has been having a hard time. On a daily basis, he’s tasked with covering the fastest player in the league, Tyreek Hill, along with the other weapons on the Chiefs’ offense. Could some of these struggles come from the fact that he’s been battling an undisclosed injury?
When Spagnuolo was asked about the slot corner position on Wednesday, he revealed an interesting tidbit about Fuller and the search for depth behind him.
“Kendall has been fine,” Spagnuolo said. “He’s battling a little bit of a tweak here and there. Rashad Fenton’s done a nice job there. (Dakari) Monroe’s gotten in there. We’ve gotten Tyrann Mathieu some reps there too in anticipation if something should happen. But right now we’re in good shape. You’ve always got to keep your eye on that position, because quickly if you have injuries on the back end, things have to shuffle and you’ve got to have somebody ready to go in there.”
That’s the first time we’ve heard of Fuller battling any sort of tweak, and the comment suggests he’s dealing with some sort of injury — not anything serious, but certainly something to monitor. In some ways an injury to Fuller could be good news because it is a convenient excuse for his struggles in practice.
This injury doesn’t appear to be related to the wrist injury that forced Fuller to have surgery late in the 2018 season. In June, Fuller said he’s completely recovered from that injury.
“It feels good,” Fuller said at that time. “I kind of made a joke with myself yesterday. I was able to put my pads on and stuff by myself, so that was the first time I’d done that in a while. I think that was a good test for me. So otherwise, I haven’t felt it. It’s been feeling good.”
On July 30, Spagnuolo had confirmed that Fuller would be playing the slot full time. He also mentioned that the team needed to find a backup slot corner too in the case of emergencies or the need to use Fuller on the outside. An injury to Fuller would obviously create a greater need for locking down a backup slot corner right away.
In today’s media availability, Spagnuolo added that each of the players he mentioned (Fenton, Monroe and Mathieu) are in contention to become the primary backup at the slot corner position.
Whatever the case may be with Fuller, it’s good to know that Spagnuolo is preparing his guys for the attrition that typically comes with a full 16-game NFL season.
