KC Chiefs’ Rashad Fenton had shoulder ‘cleanup,’ not expected to be ready until camp
The Kansas City Chiefs might have selected three cornerbacks in the 2022 NFL Draft for a good reason, outside of an obvious need.
Chiefs general manager Brett Veach revealed Tuesday that cornerback Rashad Fenton is recovering from a shoulder “cleanup” procedure.
“Fenton is a guy that we’re obviously very high on and very confident in,” Veach said. “He’s going through a little bit of a rehab now, so hopefully we get him for the start of training camp.”
Fenton appeared in 14 games with eight starts in 2021. He missed time last season with a back injury, but the shoulder injury is new.
With the current timetable, the Chiefs aren’t expecting to have Fenton available for on-field work during the upcoming organized team activities (OTAs) and the three-day mandatory minicamp in June.
Kansas City, however, projects to be covered with healthy options at cornerback with L’Jarius Sneed and Deandre Baker returning from last year’s roster. The Chiefs also selected Trent McDuffie in the first round, Joshua Williams in the fourth round and Jaylen Watson in the seventh round of the draft.
Given the options, there won’t be a rush to get Fenton on the field until he’s 100% healthy.
“I think he’ll be ready for training camp,” Veach said. “But we certainly wanted to get some guys out here and be ready to roll and be in position to kind of know what we have.”
Veach wasn’t done adding to the cornerback group, of course.
The Chiefs on Monday sent a 2024 conditional seventh-round pick to the Houston Texans in exchange for versatile defensive back Lonnie Johnson Jr., who can play cornerback and safety.
Veach said the interest in the 6-foot-2, 213-pound Johnson surfaced ahead of the 2021 regular season’s trade deadline, which resulted in the Chiefs ultimately trading for pass rusher Melvin Ingram, not Johnson.
But the Chiefs’ ability to keep the communication line open with the Texans through the recently concluded draft eventually gave the Chiefs their guy.
“We have some corners we like, but we also like big, long press corners,” Veach said. “We know he can press, we know he’s physical, and I think he’ll come in here and compete.”
Meanwhile, the Chiefs are set up for a training camp battle royal at the cornerback position, even with Fenton on the mend.
Sneed and McDuffie project as two starters, while Fenton, Baker, Johnson, Williams, Watson, among others, will fight it out for the final regular-season roster positions.
“We’ll have a ton of competition now for those three, four, five spots,” Veach said.
