KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Just minutes after the Kansas City Chiefs’ second game of the season, amid all the commotion and organized chaos inside the visitors locker room, Dave Merritt, the team’s defensive backs coach, made a rather bold statement.
In a brief exchange after the Chiefs’ win over the Jacksonville Jaguars, Merritt heard our question — How good is Trent McDuffie? — and didn’t hesitate with his answer.
“He’s the best cornerback I’ve ever drafted,” said a smiling Merritt, who has coached in the NFL for 27 years.
Unlike some of his cornerback peers in the NFL, McDuffie lets his play do the talking. He rarely promotes his work, typically deflecting praise to his teammates. But make no mistake, McDuffie is a key figure on the Chiefs’ emerging defense.
McDuffie has produced 16 tackles, two forced fumbles (tied for the league lead), one quarterback hit and one pass breakup through three games. Those are the traditional statistics. But McDuffie’s true significance to the Chiefs can be explained by watching his film the way Merritt does. His consistency, coverage skills and knack for turning disadvantageous snaps into highlights illustrate that he has become the unit’s second-best player behind superstar defensive tackle Chris Jones.
McDuffie, a second-year player, enters this week as Pro Football Focus’ highest-rated cornerback, earning a grade of 90.6. He has allowed just eight receptions for 64 yards without giving up a touchdown or committing a penalty.
McDuffie also has been excellent in his 11 snaps as a pass rusher, earning the highest grade among 13 qualifying cornerbacks in that category.
List of CBs with two games recording an 80+ PFF Grade this season:
Trent McDuffie
End of list.
(min 25 snaps per game) 🔒 pic.twitter.com/HZ65hy0xqw
— PFF KC Chiefs (@PFF_Chiefs) September 25, 2023
Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo hasn’t just used McDuffie in one position, either. Although McDuffie has spent most of his 177 defensive snaps at nickel cornerback (90), he has also been on the perimeter (51), in the box where a linebacker would be (24) and attached to the defensive line (12).
McDuffie said missing half of last season with a strained left hamstring “definitely gave me a chip coming into this year, just the impact that I can have with this defense, being able to have coach Spags’ trust. He has this thing called, ‘My job-plus.’ It’s knowing your assignment, reading your keys and (keeping) your eye discipline. Sometimes, even if you’re doing your job, when things happen or go wrong, being able to make the play when you’re needed.”
A perfect example of that came Sunday during the Chiefs’ blowout win against the Chicago Bears. Late in the second quarter on a first-down snap, the Bears, in a rare moment, appeared to have a clear schematic advantage. With the Chiefs blitzing, the Bears ran a screen pass for running back Khalil Herbert, who caught the ball with plenty of space on the perimeter. But McDuffie, the nickel defender, shed receiver Darnell Mooney’s block attempt and stripped the ball from Herbert while tackling him from behind.
“I knew (with) the certain look that we gave, they might check to a screen,” McDuffie said. “Sure enough, they did, and I just made a play on it. All week, coach Spags just talks about getting the ball out, punching it, stripping it. Fortunate enough, I was able to get it out.”
“We’re the best in the NFL,” Gay said of the Chiefs defense. “You’ve got to believe it within yourself before anybody else would. We’re going to continue to improve. Trent has turned into a (turnover) machine, so he’s going to pass it around the defense.”
The @Chiefs recover the fumble! 👏
📺: FOX pic.twitter.com/XpxszeXNrM
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) September 24, 2023
McDuffie’s highlight impressed defensive end Charles Omenihu, who watched the game away from the team while serving a six-game suspension for violating the league’s personal conduct policy.
“Trent is a baller!” Omenihu posted on his X account, formerly Twitter, during the game.
In the Chiefs’ season opener, McDuffie derailed a Detroit Lions short bubble screen inside the red zone. Once again, he avoided a block on the perimeter before forcing receiver Marvin Jones Jr. to fumble the ball, which safety Bryan Cook recovered.
“We call it ‘block destruction,’” Spagnuolo said of McDuffie earlier this month. “He was getting off blocks quickly and getting himself involved in the run game, which a nickel has got to do because he’s like a linebacker when we put him out there. His coverage skills have been really good.”
When the Chiefs face the New York Jets on “Sunday Night Football,” the Jets defense will be led by defensive tackle Quinnen Williams and cornerback Sauce Gardner, an exuberant player who was selected fourth in last year’s draft. Gardner led all players last season with 20 pass breakups to earn the league’s defensive rookie of the year award.
The Chiefs selected McDuffie in the same draft, trading up eight spots to do so. General manager Brett Veach sent the New England Patriots the 29th, 94th and 121st picks to grab McDuffie at No. 21. Veach acquired two of those picks (29 and 121) from the Miami Dolphins in the blockbuster trade involving receiver Tyreek Hill.
In just 11 regular-season games as a rookie, McDuffie recorded seven pass breakups, one sack and one forced fumble. He allowed just three touchdown receptions, finishing as the Chiefs’ second-best coverage cornerback, earning a 73.6 overall grade, according to Pro Football Focus. Among the 112 cornerbacks who played at least 50 snaps last season in press coverage — a principle of Spagnuolo’s system — McDuffie ranked third, earning a coverage grade of 79.6.
“Last year was my first time really on the inside playing nickel,” McDuffie said last week. “Things I didn’t see before on the inside were so different. It was such a learning process that this year, being able to slow it down during OTAs and break it down, my job and my responsibilities, it’s been very beneficial.”
Highest-graded #Chiefs in Week Three, via @PFF:
🥇CB, Trent McDuffie (92.6)
🥈QB, Patrick Mahomes (90.3)
🥉CB, Joshua Williams (82.7)
4) DT, Chris Jones (82.2)
5) SS, Justin Reid (81.7)
6) RB, Jerick McKinnon (81.6)#CHIvsKC | #ChiefsKingdom pic.twitter.com/M5Ms7BRx4Z
— KC Sports Network (@KCSportsNetwork) September 25, 2023
One of McDuffie’s best snaps against the Jaguars came with him in the nickel. With the Jaguars inside the red zone, McDuffie was assigned man-to-man coverage against receiver Zay Jones, who ran a diagonal route intended to beat such coverage. But McDuffie stuck to Jones and trailed the receiver, forcing quarterback Trevor Lawrence to throw the ball higher than he wanted. McDuffie ended the play by leaping to prevent Jones from catching the ball in the back of the end zone.
McDuffie was the highest-graded player (92.6) in the Chiefs’ win over the Bears, according to Pro Football Focus, because he had a forced fumble, surrendered only one reception (for 6 yards) and made one of the most critical tackles. In the first quarter, the Bears called the correct running play for Herbert. As Herbert began to cut into a clear running lane with his eyes on a 37-yard touchdown, McDuffie moved forward to make a shoestring tackle with his right arm and hand.
On the next play, a third-and-6 snap, McDuffie covered Mooney, which helped Chris Jones sack quarterback Justin Fields to push the Bears out of field goal range.
Coach Andy Reid, in his opening statement after the game, acknowledged that the Chiefs defense featured plenty of strong individual performances.
The first player Reid mentioned was McDuffie: “It seemed like he was all over the field.”