Super Bowl: KC's rookie defensive backs have got it covered
Kansas City cornerback Trent McDuffie talks during Super Bowl media availability in Scottsdale, Ariz., on Tuesday. Credit: AP/Ross D. Franklin
PHOENIX — Because the front-of-the-house guys are mostly the same with Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce getting ready for their third Super Bowl in four seasons, it’s easy to assume all of Kansas City’s roster is seasoned and comfortable on this stage. But there is one key position group in particular for whom not only the Super Bowl is a new experience, the NFL is.
Kansas City’s secondary is stacked with rookies who have been charged with coming in and keeping up with what is essentially a dynasty in the making. First-round pick Trent McDuffie, second-rounder Bryan Cook, fourth-rounder Joshua Williams and seventh-rounder Jaylen Watson have become the cornerstone corners for the team despite their fledgling resumes.
“Yeah, OK, we’re rookies,” McDuffie said Tuesday, “but at the end of the day our confidence and knowing the defense takes over.”
“They’ve been doing a heck of a job all year,” veteran safety Juan Thornhill said. “Those guys don’t flinch at all when they have to step in.”
Late in last week’s AFC Championship Game all four were on the field together trying to beat the Bengals. Two of them cane away with interceptions off Joe Burrow.
“When we look in the huddle, some people might get nervous that you have a bunch of rookies out there, but we don't get nervous,” Thornhill said. “We know those guys have been playing well for us all year. When it’s their time to step on the field we expect them to make plays. And they always do. They never disappoint.”
The most impressive part of their coming-of-age season is that it hasn’t been a next-man-up narrative with injuries requiring them to take on larger roles. They are on the field by design.
“All the rookies [were] thrown in the fire pretty early in the season,” Watson said.
Kansas City made a conscious effort to devote its salary-cap resources to positions such as quarterback, tight end and defensive line. They addressed their cornerbacks with the draft.
“When you draft somebody in the first round, there’s some higher expectations there, and I feel like Trent has met them in what he’s done,” defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo said. “The other guys were a little bit unknown, although what we liked about them and what [GM] Brett [Veach] identified was the length and some speed.”
The matchings have paid off.
“They’re willing guys,” Reid said. “They try things. It’s one thing when a player lets you coach him and he tries it in practice but he’s not willing to try it in a game. These guys are very gifted athletes, very talented to start with . . . My hat goes off to them. They’re good kids, they work hard, they want to be good, and every week they have gotten a little bit better, which is what you look for.”
McDuffie credits the environment in Kansas City for helping so many young players to flourish.
“It allows you to grow in a way I never thought I would,” he said. “They’ve created an environment for us that is stress free. It allows us to learn, to grow, and just be able to play with joy and be positive.”
Now they have to face the Eagles and Philadelphia’s scary receiver duo of A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith, not to mention a very talented and confident quarterback in Jalen Hurts. Being able to hold up against that offense will certainly be a key to a Kansas City victory. The chances of their team — not to — mention the legacies of Reid and Mahomes — rest on their young shoulders.
Good thing for them they are too young to recognize that.
“I’m sure looking back years down the road I’m going to be like, ‘Whoa! We did that?’ ” McDuffie said. “But in the moment as the bullets are flying and it’s happening, it’s like, let’s just get through this. Us rookies, let’s just make sure we go out and do what we have to do.”
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
