Like everyone else who watched football this year, Chiefs GM John Dorsey thinks CB Marcus Peters has a really good shot at being the rookie of the year. This according to an interview he did on Sirius XM NFL Radio.
.@Chiefs GM John Dorsey on @marcuspeters: he deserves to win Def ROY....in all the research we did, didn't realize how smart a player he is
— SiriusXM NFL Radio (@SiriusXMNFL) January 26, 2016
#Chiefs GM John Dorsey on Sirius XM on Marcus Peters: Very smart, football savvy. I'd be surprised if he wasn't defensive ROY.
— Farzin Vousoughian (@Farzin21) January 27, 2016
To have the league's best rookie at such an impact position as corner is huge for the Chiefs, especially with their brand of defense. Imagine if the Chiefs didn't hit on Peters and were stuck with him while Sean Smith hits free agency in March. They would be, to put it politely, screwed for the future.
I keep coming back to how smart he is as a player as Dorsey mentioned. You can go back to pretty much any game and key in on him and see how much he communicates with his teammates. It looks like he's in a leadership position out there helping people get lined up at times. He clearly understands route concepts from the opposing offense, not only on the man he's covering but from the other receivers, too. I go back his interception against the Vikings where he peeled off his man early to snag an interception because he understood what the Vikings were doing.
Clearly, Peters has things to work on. He can bite on those double moves that stretch the field. He was targeted more than any corner in the league so he gave up a lot of yards. He led the Chiefs with nine penalties last season. That said, having the mental edge along with a physical edge with his size ... whew, it's gonna be fun watching this dude play in the coming years.