Arrowhead Report's Tucker Franklin and Jordan Foote discuss how Bashaud Breeland's return from suspension impacts Rashad Fenton's snap count.
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00:00We're going to rough the mailbag up a little bit. First question comes from Devin Albertson.
00:04He says, with Breeland returning from his suspension, how does Spags balance getting
00:08Breeland snaps with Fenton and Ward playing so well to start the year? Devin, thank you for that
00:13question. It's a very good question. Something that I've thought about a lot, um, really since
00:19after the Patriots game on Monday, I guess it was, um, because Fenton has played very well.
00:26I'm a Fenton fan boy. We're, this is a pro Rashad Fenton podcast. Um, he talked to the media today
00:33on, on what day is today, Wednesday about, uh, you know, how he so versatile and how really this
00:39year he's coming to his own because he knows the defense and now he can focus on the other,
00:44the offense and what they're doing, pick up on cues like that and such. So he's really been
00:48playing well. I believe he was the first chief to have four past defense. We talked about this on
00:52yesterday's podcast since what was it? Kendall Fuller in 2018. So he's been playing really well.
00:58And I think that's going to be a good issue to have. We came into this season thinking, oh no,
01:02how are we going to cover the cornerback situation? Who's going to be playing the
01:06cornerbacks. And now we're saying, okay, we have too many cornerbacks and I could see Rashad
01:11Breeland not getting very many snaps because this is his first week back. He could be getting
01:15the suspension treatment. I think you mentioned it on, on the podcast that you were last on.
01:20Um, but I think that they'll get their snaps. Fenton can play in the nickel spot in the slot
01:25too. He's very versatile. He even said he can play a little safety too. So I think Fenton will
01:29be on the field because spags has shown that he likes to go with the hot hand rather than the big
01:33name. You nailed it, Tucker. It's a beautiful problem to have. And that's with legerious need,
01:39who was arguably playing the best brand of football in that entire secondary. He's out,
01:45he's injured, he's on IR and we're still kind of debating back and forth about who's going to fill
01:50what spot. And it's not like we don't have enough bodies there. If you're the chiefs,
01:55they have plenty of bodies there. And it's, I think personally that Breeland will get worked in
02:01kind of slowly. Um, he, you can call it a suspension treatment. I think that's probably
02:06right, but it's also the Rashad Fenton is balling out treatment and the char various board's hand
02:12isn't as big of a hindrance as it could have been treatment. So with Fenton's lack of experience,
02:18I don't think that's really a problem anymore, but Hamilton, the chiefs are trying to keep him
02:22in the slot. They like him there. Um, I think Breeland will get starter reps eventually,
02:28but you mentioned Fenton being versatile, definitely help. So if you can get all three
02:31of those guys on the field and no offense to Hamilton, but if he's not on the field,
02:35that's not necessarily a bad thing. That just means your best players are out there.
02:40Of course. And the secondary has now become a strong suit. I know that we, we've worried about
02:45the secondary for so long and now it's like, okay, this might be one of this team's strongest
02:49abilities. We know the run-stopping game isn't where it needs to be. The linebacking core
02:53obviously isn't at an elite level, but the secondary has been playing so well. And I think
02:59that this has been the biggest surprise of the year so far, I think. Oh yeah, absolutely. And
03:05there have been, I mean, we'll touch on the offense's kind of inconsistency here in a while.
03:09That's a bit of a shock, but defensively, the chiefs are balling in the secondary. They have
03:14their top five in, um, offensive and defensive DVOA special teams. They're really, really,
03:20really, really, really low, but that's another topic for another day and they'll bounce back.
03:24But the secondary is playing great and Willie Gay is getting out there on the field. So hopefully
03:29by the end of the year, the linebacking core will be better. The pass rush is strong enough
03:35to help out the secondary and the secondary is strong enough to help them out. So really,
03:38the defense has been a really huge improvement and a really big story so far.