The Chiefs third-year defensive back talks about becoming the team’s number-one corner for the upcoming season.
With an already impressive career resume, Kansas City Chiefs cornerback Trent McDuffie enters his third season in the NFL with a new challenge to himself: stepping into the role of the team’s No. 1 cornerback.
The offseason trade of former Chiefs corner L’Jarius Sneed to the Tennessee Titans left a significant gap in the team’s secondary. With the need for someone to shadow the opposing team’s best wide receiver, McDuffie is confident he is the right person for the job.
“I mean, I told [defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo] wherever he needs me – like I always said, ‘That’s where you can put me,’” McDuffie shared after Monday’s practice. “I’m going against the best of the best. That’s why we play this game, to go against the best of the best. Being able to compete, no matter who it’s against, I’m ready to do that.”
Last season, McDuffie primarily served as the Chiefs’ slot corner, earning First-Team All-Pro honors. While NFL offenses have grown accustomed to moving their wide receivers all over the formation, they typically rely on their best players to beat one-on-one coverage on the outside. Sneed took on this responsibility last season, but now, with McDuffie transitioning to that role, he acknowledges the challenges ahead.
“Last year was really my first time at the nickel position,” McDuffie explained. “Then this year, with LJ leaving, moving to the outside will be a different ball game. Inside, you know you got help here and there, so you can do things a little differently. On the outside, when you’re on an island, you got to be a technician. Coming into this camp knowing that I might have to do more of that, I’ve been working on my technique little by little each day and just trying to perfect myself out there.”
Regardless of where he plays, McDuffie remains one of the Chiefs’ best defenders. Last season, he ranked first on the team in forced fumbles (5), second in total tackles (80) and passes defended (7), and fourth in quarterback pressures (14). While staying in the slot played to McDuffie’s strengths by allowing him to get after the quarterback, he ultimately credited his success to his overall knowledge of defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo’s system.
“It comes back to knowing your responsibility on every play,” McDuffie noted. “Coach (Steve Spagnuolo) has a lot of plays in, and we do a lot of different things. You can be a Cover 3 corner, a Cover 2 corner, a Cover 4. I mean we have all the coverages, so just knowing where your leverage is and knowing where you’re help is — and at the end of the day, Coach Spags talks about it all the time, it’s just disrupting the routes. Get your hands on the receivers, and messing up that timing is the best thing a corner can do in this defense.”
Despite all of his success, McDuffie's one glaring stat is his zero interceptions over the first two years of his career. He’ll need to improve this as he steps into his new role. However, despite the interception numbers, Spagnuolo remains happy with the Chiefs’ new No. 1 cornerback.
“He’s got a natural feel for all of that,” Spagnulo said of McDuffie’s game. “He’s waiting for his first NFL interception, right? I told him this before - you know he got voted- didn’t he get voted All-Pro by his peers last year? I thought that was the hugest compliment to a DB that did not have an interception because that tells you all you need to know.”
