The Kansas City Chiefs are overhauling their secondary, and they added another depth player at corner in Kaiir Elam.
The Kansas City Chiefs are slowly making up ground to replace the three key secondary players they lost recently, and the latest addition is cornerback Kaiir Elam, according to an article written by Myles Simmons of Pro Football Talk via Mike Garofolo of NFL Network.
Elam, who is 24, has moved around a lot in his brief career. He split time between the Dallas Cowboys and Tennessee Titans, and the Cowboys acquired him in a trade last March via the Buffalo Bills. Elam appeared in ten games and made seven starts for Dallas before the Cowboys waved him in November.
The cornerback signed with the Titans shortly after that and appeared in four games for Tennessee over the course of the rest of the season.
There is first-round talent here, however. Elam was the 23rd overall pick for the Buffalo Bills back in 2022, and he’s appeared in 43 games with 19 starts. He has a pair of interceptions to go with eight passes defended.
Part of the logic with this signing probably has a lot to do with Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, who has a reputation for being able to develop cornerbacks regardless of their draft position. It makes sense to give Spagnuolo a former first-round player to work with, especially at this juncture with the Chiefs doing an overhaul of their secondary.
The Chiefs recently traded cornerback Trent McDuffie to the Los Angeles Rams for draft capital, and the Chiefs let fellow cornerback Jaylen Watson follow McDuffie to the Rams in free agency. Kansas City also lost safety Bryan Cook to the Cincinnati Bengals and right now it looks like there’s going to be some stiff competition for secondary spots at both cornerback and safety.
The Chiefs acquired cornerback Taron Johnson from the Buffalo Bills in a trade, and they also signed Kader Kohou as a free agent. The new secondary could also feature newly-signed safety Alohi Gilmore to bolster their deep coverage.
There will be more moves to come, possibly through the draft. The Chiefs have done a good job drafting cornerbacks in the lower rounds who are tough and physical in coverage, and Spagnuolo will certainly have a voice in what happens in that regard.
Chiefs GM Brett Veach has also identified the pass rush as a priority, and adding help there would make the secondary better, too. The Chiefs struggled in coverage when the pass rush didn’t get home in the second half of last season, so that’s another problem that needs to be fixed.