Redskins sign CB Kendall Fuller (4 years, ~$40M)

[HTTRDynasty]

On 3/17/2020 at 8:05 AM, Chiefer said:

He was never an outside corner for us.

still got burnt a lot.

 

On 3/17/2020 at 12:30 AM, Jakuvious said:

Good piece, but the price is greater than his value, IMO. Was only really average for us as a CB in his two years here. Honestly did better when Thornhill was down and we had him playing more safety to free up Mathieu. But the past two years he's proven more to be an ancillary player to better DBs than an actual premiere guy in his own right.

 

My question for you guys:  why didn't KC ever try him full-time at outside CB?  He seemed to do very well there in a relatively small sample size in 2018.  But he played mostly slot in 2018 (70%), then slot and safety in 2019.

Quote

Despite his struggles from the slot in 2018, Fuller shined in coverage when he was given the opportunity to cover out wide. The third-year cornerback registered 103 coverage snaps from an outside corner position, and out of the 101 players who saw at least 100 coverage snaps out wide, he ranked first with a 90.7 coverage grade. He ranked first among that group by holding opposing quarterbacks to just a 35.3% completion percentage when targeted as a wide corner and both of his interceptions came when playing out wide.

https://www.pff.com/news/pro-the-chiefs-needs-slot-cornerback-kendall-fuller-back-to-his-best-in-2019

[DoleINGout]

Slot/safety hybrids are becoming equally valuable to corners.

[RedGold]

6 minutes ago, HTTRDynasty said:

 

 

My question for you guys:  why didn't KC ever try him full-time at outside CB?  He seemed to do very well there in a relatively small sample size in 2018.  But he played mostly slot in 2018 (70%), then slot and safety in 2019.

https://www.pff.com/news/pro-the-chiefs-needs-slot-cornerback-kendall-fuller-back-to-his-best-in-2019

My simple answer is he was our best option in the slot for the majority of that time and we are in Nickel a majority of the time.   It’s harder to find a quality slot guy and it was a bigger priority with the lack of coverage from our LB’s.

That’s not to say he couldn’t have,  or that he was bad.   We never really had a stable scheme while he was here,  and he got injured early in the year.   He was out when the defense really started to adjust to the new scheme.    He started playing better when moved to safety,  that’s also about the same Game Experience when the rest of the defense really started to turn the corner,,  it’s very possible he would have turned the corner at CB as well and that he was still growing in the defense

[Jakuvious]

8 minutes ago, HTTRDynasty said:

 

 

My question for you guys:  why didn't KC ever try him full-time at outside CB?  He seemed to do very well there in a relatively small sample size in 2018.  But he played mostly slot in 2018 (70%), then slot and safety in 2019.

https://www.pff.com/news/pro-the-chiefs-needs-slot-cornerback-kendall-fuller-back-to-his-best-in-2019

Mix of reasons, really. Some of it will be coaching preference, some of it will be the skills and profiles of the guys around him. Under both Sutton and Spags, our defense has played sides at the CB position rather than follow. So Breeland was always the LCB, Ward was always the RCB, Fuller and later Fenton were always in the slot. We move our safeties a ton, with Mathieu, Thornhill, and Sorensen each doing some of everything, but our CBs play whoever lines up across from their spot. And our other CBs, athletically, aren't really the best fits for the slot. Breeland and Ward are both best as traditional boundary corners. It was a little different in 2018 when we had Scandrick and Nelson who both has slot experience as well, and you'd put Fuller outside just to get Scandrick off the field. But Ward is a horrible fit for the slot and Breeland is definitely less comfortable there. So to get your best group of DBs out there, you would need Fuller in the slot. The only way you get him playing outside is if you have him start as a boundary corner and move inside in nickel formations, but like I said the staff seems to prefer not moving the CBs around, and we spent most of the time in nickel (at least) anyway. So our 5 best DBs entering the year were Breeland, Ward, Fuller, Mathieu, and Thornhill. Easiest way to get all 5 on the field is with Fuller in the slot. Given our versatility at safety, and lack of versatility at CB elsewhere, it was honestly easier for him to see snaps at S without a drop off by moving Mathieu into the slot, than have him seeing snaps outside without a drop off. Fenton eventually proved to be a good slot corner, but that was in relief of an injured Fuller, or a moved to S Fuller, so by then it wasn't relevant.

tl;dr Fuller at slot + Ward/Breeland outside > Fuller outside with one of Ward/Breeland in the slot.

[HTTRDynasty]

12 minutes ago, Jakuvious said:

tl;dr Fuller at slot + Ward/Breeland outside > Fuller outside with one of Ward/Breeland in the slot.

Thanks for the thorough response.  It makes a ton of sense.  But given how well he performed (albeit in a small sample size) on the outside, wouldn't it have made sense to let Breeland walk this year and re-sign Fuller to start on the outside in 2020 and beyond?  I just think they never really gave him a chance.  He's clearly itching for the opportunity:

 

Though I understand your team's tight cap space (and Mahomes' upcoming contract) would have likely nixed that idea in the bud.

[Jakuvious]

10 minutes ago, HTTRDynasty said:

Thanks for the thorough response.  It makes a ton of sense.  But given how well he performed (albeit in a small sample size) on the outside, wouldn't it have made sense to let Breeland walk this year and re-sign Fuller to start on the outside in 2020 and beyond?  I just think they never really gave him a chance.  He's clearly itching for the opportunity:

Though I understand your team's tight cap space (and Mahomes' upcoming contract) would have likely nixed that idea in the bud.

 

Frankly, I don't think the team expected to be able to retain either of them. They were only able to resign Breeland because he went out, found he didn't have nearly the market that he was expecting, and came back late and resigned for another 1 year prove it deal. Pending what happens with his off field transgression, we may wind up with 2 years of Breeland for $5M total. That's way under market value for what he provides, and is something we can afford. $10M per year to Fuller was never in the cards for us. Where our team is at right now, you don't just sign a guy for $10M+. With where we are from a team building and cap management perspective, every guy we give that kind of money too means letting someone else leave on the backend to compensate. That money means no Jones, or maybe a poor structure for Mahomes deal that means we lose Hill or Thornhill or Hardman down the road. Maybe instead we lose Ward  or Mathieu in two years. If all things were equal and it was Breeland for $3M or Fuller for $3M , sure give me the younger guy with more versatility and upside, even if I think Breeland was better in 2019, but that's not where our team is at. Everyone we kept this year is either on a tender or tag, took a hometown discount (Watkins, Pennel, Sherman), or came back after the market wasn't what they thought it would be (Breeland, Robinson.) Only way we could've afforded Fuller is if he went out, saw no one really wanted him, and signed a deal like Breeland. But that's not what happened.