The Chiefs traded away top cornerback Marcus Peters last week, but the club also considered dealing another defensive back in Steven Nelson, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (video link).
It’s unclear if Kansas City was choosing between a Peters or a Nelson trade, or if a deal involving Nelson could still come to fruition. The Chiefs had been shopping Peters for more than three weeks, tweets Terez A. Paylor of the Kansas City Star, so the club could have been discussing Nelson swaps during that period, as well.
Whether or not Nelson is dealt, the Chiefs’ defensive backfield figures to undergo significant change this offseason. Peters and Darrelle Revis (who was recently released) won’t be back in 2017, while Terrance Mitchell, Phillip Gaines, and Kenneth Acker all are scheduled for unrestricted free agency. It hasn’t been all subtractions for Kansas City’s secondary, however, as the club did acquire cornerback Kendall Fuller as part of the Alex Smith trade and ink ex-Raiders cornerback David Amerson to a one-year deal.
Nelson, 25, has been an above-average corner for the majority of his three-year career. In 2017, Nelson didn’t come off injured reserve until October while dealing with a core muscle ailment, but became a starter immediately upon his activation and graded as the league’s No. 62 corner among 121 qualifiers, per Pro Football Focus. The year prior, Nelson finished 36th among 84 cornerbacks in Football Outsiders’ success rate.
A third-round pick out of Oregon State in 2015, Nelson has one season left on his rookie contract. Thanks to the NFL’s proven performance escalator program, Nelson will earn a base salary of $1.908MM during the upcoming campaign.
Rapaport’s interview was full of bs. Said it was obvious that once the smith trade happened that someone is the secondary had to go? So obvious he never even floated that info until after the peters trade happened. Everyone talked about how the chiefs now had top secondary and there was no one doing analysis, esp rapaport, that said someone needed to go. And now this? Why even put this on your site? It’s non info. He’s just spits out the name of the only other cb. The peters trade wasn’t because of overcrowding, it was chemistry and future money. Rapaport is grasping at straws for air time
Trader Veach putting in some work…