Cornerback Bashaud Breeland, still unsigned, visits Chiefs camp Wednesday
Wearing gold chains over a black T-shirt, beige track pants and slides with socks, Bashaud Breeland was easy to spot on a field dotted with red and white at Chiefs training camp.
Midway through his tour of NFL teams, the free-agent cornerback was in St. Joseph to watch the Chiefs’ abbreviated practice on Wednesday morning.
Breeland, who was drafted by Washington and spent the last four years there, took a visit to Oakland earlier in the week and is expected to visit Cleveland and Indianapolis later this week, according to ESPN’s Rob Demovsky.
Breeland arrived to the Chiefs’ practice fields at Missouri Western State just after 8:30 a.m., escorted by Tim Terry, the organization’s director of pro personnel.
Breeland spent most of his time following the defensive backs group with defensive coordinator Bob Sutton. The fifth-year pro was relaxed, tossing a football around and laughing with Terry and other Chiefs personnel. Breeland also stood with safety Armani Watts and cornerback Ashton Lampkin, who are both recovering from injuries. Lampkin tore his ACL last season and Watts injured his ankle during Monday’s practice.
A couple of times, Breeland leaned on Sutton’s shoulder, crossing his feet and propping himself up with an elbow.
During 7-on-7 drills, Breeland stood in a group that included Brett Veach and took a selfie with the young general manager. He also spent most of the red zone 7-on-7 drills talking with head trainer Rick Burkholder.
Before arriving in St. Joseph, Breeland posted a series of cryptic tweets.
“I love when things fall into place! #unbreakablemind,” he tweeted Monday.
“Decisions decisions decisions,” he tweeted Sunday.
But when practice ended around 10 a.m., Breeland didn’t give any indication about which way he was leaning. Coach Andy Reid told WHB (810 AM) that nothing between the two was finalized and Breeland was still scheduled to take more visits.
Breeland stuck around the Chiefs’ camp for a while Wednesday afternoon, even walking into the team’s dorm around 12:45 during the veterans’ arrival.
Prior to Breeland’s visit, the Chiefs freed up some salary cap space Tuesday when running back Spencer Ware agreed to convert half of his $1.45 million base salary to incentives.
Breeland, who started 58 of 60 games during his four years in Washington, racked up 268 combined tackles, 59 passes defended, eight interceptions and seven forced fumbles in four seasons.
He wouldn’t be the first significant addition to the defensive backfield from Washington this offseason. The Chiefs also added corner Kendall Fuller as a part of the Alex Smith trade.
Like Fuller, Breeland would help fortify a group that lost lockdown, All-Pro cornerback Marcus Peters in the offseason when he was traded to the Rams.
If signed, Breeland would almost surely be a starter. As it stands, Fuller is likely to start at corner slot with Steven Nelson and David Amerson, who spent last season with the Raiders, on the outside.
Breeland was slated to join the Panthers in March, but failed a physical to void his three-year $24 million deal.
According to the Panthers, Breeland failed because of a non-football injury. Breeland told ESPN’s David Newton that he cut the back of his left foot in the Dominican Republic on March 4. Breeland added that he didn’t think the injury was serious, but he would need to have a skin graft to repair the injury, similar to a repair he had on the foot in fourth grade.
This story was originally published July 25, 2018 at 9:01 AM.