Chiefs say Bashaud Breeland is attending team meetings

Going into the offseason, we presumed that Kansas City Chiefs cornerback Bashaud Breeland would leverage his status on a Super Bowl-winning team into a long-term deal with another franchise — finally achieving the goal he thought he’d reached when he signed a long-term deal with the Carolina Panthers in the spring of 2018.

A foot infection caused him to fail a Panthers physical, voiding that original contract. Once recovered, he was unable to find a similar deal with another team — including the Chiefs, with whom he had extensive talks during that season’s training camp — and ended up signing consecutive one-year deals with the Green Bay Packers and the Chiefs.

As the 2020 league year began, we didn’t know Breeland was facing what could be a four-game NFL suspension for violating the NFL’s substance-abuse policy. NFL teams, however, did know about it — which explains why Breeland ended up signing another one-year deal with the Chiefs on March 19. His situation became further complicated on April 29, when he was arrested on multiple charges in South Carolina.

During a press briefing on Tuesday, defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo said he didn’t know when Breeland would again be able to participate in on-field activities — that is, when those are once again permitted during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I don’t even know game-wise where it is,” said Spagnuolo — referring to the suspension Breeland will likely serve when the season begins. “But listen... Breezy has been in the meetings with us. [He’s] been very engaged — and he’s done a heck of a job. So that’s another player that we have that is has a second year in the system. I’m glad we got him back.”

This, at least, is one benefit the Chiefs (and every NFL other team) has while trying to prepare for the season during a pandemic: even players who are across the country dealing with potential legal problems may still attend meetings virtually.

Otherwise, said Spagnuolo, the team continues to have a wait-and-see attitude.

“Just like you’re talking about, I think we’ll just let that play out,” he told reporters. “I know coach (Andy) Reid has addressed it — and I’ll just kind of stand on what he has said. From my regard, I’m just glad we got him back.”