The Kansas City Chiefs have a new cornerback coming to town.
The CB position has been a primary concern on this team heading into the 2019 season. They’ve now finally made a move to address those concerns. Eight season NFL veteran Mo Claiborne has agreed to terms with the Chiefs and is set to join the team later this evening.
Claiborne began his career as a first-round draft pick by the Dallas Cowboys in 2012 out of LSU. After injuries derailed his career with the Cowboys, Claiborne joined the New York Jets, where he played the last two seasons starting in 31-of-32 possible games. In 2018, Claiborne put together a career season with 57 total tackles, two interceptions and 10 passes defended.
With Claiborne set to join the Chiefs here’s a look at where he might fit in given their current needs:
An old friend
Claiborne will be welcomed in immediately to the Chiefs by his former LSU Teammate Tyrann Mathieu. They played together at LSU during the 2010 and 2011 seasons. During those seasons Claiborne and Mathieu terrorized the SEC together accounting for 221 total tackles, 15 interceptions, 25 passes defended, 11 forced fumbles and nine fumble recoveries between the two of them.
In 2011, the play from Claiborne and Mathieu helped LSU to the BCS National Championship game. They were defeated by Alabama during that game, but they both played hard notching a combined 11 tackles and a tackle for loss during the game. They both played instrumental roles in getting LSU to that game.
It’ll be nice to see those two teammates back in action together and rebuilding some former chemistry from their college playing days.
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By the numbers
Claiborne hasn’t had a super productive career, especially because of his injuries at Dallas, but the last three seasons he’s been building some positive momentum. Look no further than his PFF grades to understand the recent strengths of his game.
He played most of his snaps on the perimeter last season, but he still has some experience in the slot. His grades, at least for the last season, seem to be better in the slot. It’s also a much smaller sample size, but it’s interesting given Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo’s recent comments about finding a backup slot corner.
I like that he has good run defense grades, but the Chiefs will obviously be looking for him to improve all of these grades moving forward.
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Roster fit
My current projections had these six cornerbacks making the Chiefs’ roster:
- Kendall Fuller
- Bashaud Breeland
- Charvarius Ward
- D’Montre Wade
- Rashad Fenton
- Mark Fields
After the addition of Claiborne, I still think that the team will go with six corners on the roster. But I’d expect a player like Mark Fields or Rashad Fenton to get bumped in favor of Claiborne. Really, it just depends if the Chiefs envision Claiborne as an outside corner or a slot guy moving forward. He’s proven he can do both, but they might restrict him to one spot.
I’m not convinced that Claiborne will earn a starting role right away. He’ll either be CB No. 4 backing up the trio of Fuller, Breeland and Ward or he’ll compete directly with all of them for playing time. The player this hurts the most is D’Montre Wade, who has been having a very solid training camp. Without injury he’ll likely be relegated to CB No. 5 or No. 6 on the depth chart and most of his contributions will come on special teams.
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Suspension
Claiborne is currently suspended for the first four games of the 2019 season after violating the NFL’s substance-abuse policy. During those four games he won’t count against the active roster, so the Chiefs won’t need to make a roster decision until Week 5 of the NFL season. It’s convenient because it gives Claiborne time to get up to speed with only several days of training camp remaining.
It’s entirely possible that the team already has established starters that are performing at a high level by then. It’s also possible that guys are struggling and they’ll be in need of veteran reinforcements like Claiborne. Really he’ll be a nice insurance policy for the Chiefs if things get off to a bad start.
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