Rashad Fenton and the Chiefs Could Be Heading for a Breakup

Fenton has been a quality player for the Chiefs for the last three years. As a rookie, he earned playing time during the last half of the season and was on the field for over 30% of the snaps in each of the Chiefs' playoff games during their Super Bowl run.

Just last year, Fenton played over 60% of the Chiefs' defensive snaps, was given snaps as a starting outside cornerback and continued to play well on a defense that was struggling. Fenton has always been seen as a quality player. After all, he has never allowed over a 100 passer rating in coverage in any of the last three years and he constantly ranks as one of the best tackling cornerbacks in the league.

By all accounts, Fenton is one of general manager Brett Veach’s best "value" draft picks. With that said, his time with the Chiefs might be coming to an end. This reality is not necessarily a slight against Fenton, but rather a reality of how teams in the NFL are built.

Many players like Fenton are great for teams not because they are quality role players, but because they are cheap quality role players. So far in his career with the Chiefs, Fenton has earned only $2.1 million in total. The level of play he's providing on that cheap of a contract has given the Chiefs a great bang for their buck. However, when Fenton needs to be paid, that value proposition evaporates. The team recently saw this phenomenon with Charvarius Ward.

Ward was a solid starter for the Chiefs over the past four years. He was acquired in a training camp trade with the Cowboys and had a UDFA salary for most of his time on the roster. Ward earned only $1.8M in his first three years with Kansas City and earned just $3.4M in his final year due to the restricted free agent tag. Instead of bringing Ward back, though, the Chiefs let him walk via free agency and join the 49ers.

Ward is the embodiment of what happens when a role player or low-end starter hits the market. When 31 other teams have a shot at such a player, all it takes is one franchise to see more in that player to price him out of his original team's range. It's easy to see that happening with Fenton. Another team could see his great play as a third cornerback and think he could be a starter. If the Chiefs don't value Fenton like that, then he will walk. With how Kansas City drafted this year, it's hard to imagine that Fenton is in their future plans.

The Chiefs took not one, not two, but three cornerbacks in the draft this year. At the front end, Trent McDuffie is going to start, considering the draft capital given up for him. On the back end, Jaylen Watson is hard to project as a seventh-rounder at this time.

Joshua Williams, the Chiefs' new fourth-round cornerback, seems like a player destined to fill Fenton’s role when he leaves. Williams could need time to season as an NFL player because he's taking a huge step up from Fayetteville State, but he has the frame and tools to be an outside cornerback one day. Does that role sound familiar? With a player that seems destined to fill his 2023 spot on the roster and with Fenton being on an expiring contract, how could he force the Chiefs' hand to make them consider keeping him?

Well, it'll be hard.

Fenton has missed much of the offseason with a shoulder injury that has cast doubt on whether he will return in time for the start of the season. The only way he could play his way into a new contract with the Chiefs is winning snaps at one of the outside cornerback spots ahead of Lonnie Johnson Jr., Williams and other cornerbacks, then playing better than his previous three years with the team. Three years that were already showcasing decent play, at that. It's hard to see that happening.

Whether the seemingly inevitable happens and Fenton moves on or if he plays his way into an extension from the Chiefs, players like him are the types of players that build championship teams. Great role players on dirt cheap rookie contracts are how Super Bowl-caliber rosters such as the 2019-20 winners are made. These types of role players almost always change teams eventually, however, due to the sheer fact that it is difficult for the original team to retain them. If a team wants to continue to compete they need to select many Fenton’s over a few drafts.

All fans can do at times is simply be happy for a player "securing the bag" and hope that the team's front office can hit on another Fenton in the sixth round of an upcoming draft.