Where Joe Haden would fit in the Kansas City Chiefs defense

The Kansas City Chiefs are one of the teams expected to have some interest in free agent CB Joe Haden after he was cut by the Cleveland Browns. The Chiefs haven’t commented on any of this so we have no idea how real any interest they might have is.

Haden was a very good player his first five years in the league. The last two years, however, his performance hasn’t been as good.

What I want to do is look at where Haden would actually fit in the Chiefs defense. He’s a big name so you think he would slide right in easily. But would he? Here is the Chiefs current cornerback depth chart:

LCB: Marcus Peters, Phillip Gaines, DJ White, De’Vante Bausby, Ashton Lampkin, Jacoby Glenn

RCB: Steven Nelson, Terrance Mitchell, Kenneth Acker, JR Nelson, Larry Scott, Trevon Hartfield

Do Chiefs fans want Joe Haden?

Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images

The answer is yes.

Marcus Peters is your No. 1 and that’s not changing. We can call Steven Nelson the No. 2 but most of the time he’s lining up inside when the Chiefs are in subpackages. When Nelson is inside and the Chiefs have a third corner on the field, it’s Terrance Mitchell who is coming in.

Mitchell, however, has been hurt. If he’s healthy, would Haden beat him out? That’s the question that needs to be answered. I would like to say yes but that’s only because Haden is a big name and Mitchell has mostly been a journeyman.

Mitchell’s injury should also remind the Chiefs that there are going to be more injuries. The same goes for Phillip Gaines, who was the next man up and has been hurt in his brief NFL career.

I think the Chiefs top three corners are solid - Peters, Nelson and Mitchell. The problem is if / when one of them goes down. The Chiefs have very little depth behind them. I like DJ White and De’Vante Bausby to continue developing but maybe not to play significant snaps in 2017. For that reason, I’m interested in a veteran corner like Haden.