Two seasons into his playing career, Chiefs cornerback Trent McDuffie has two Super Bowl rings and an All-Pro selection. Yet, he wasn’t considered the team’s top cornerback, but he is now.
After the Chiefs traded L’Jarius Sneed to the Titans in the offseason, McDuffie will now not only step into the role as the team’s top corner, he’ll move from the nickel to the outside.
“It’s a whole different ballgame,” McDuffie said at training camp in St. Joe, Mo. “Inside you’ve got help here and there and you can do things a little differently. But on the outside on the island, you’ve got to be a technician.
“And coming into this camp knowing I might have to do some more of that has been each and every day little by little working on technique and just trying to perfect myself out there. So I’m still growing, still learning, and I feel like that’s one thing that wakes me up every day.”
As the team’s lockdown corner, McDuffie will constantly go up against the opposition’s best wide receiver. And that’s a challenge he’s looking forward to.
“That’s why we play this game, to go against the best of the best,” McDuffie said. “Being able to compete, no matter who it’s against, I’m ready to do that.”
While McDuffie admitted he’s not a big vocal leader, Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo said McDuffie is a leader in the classroom and on the field.
“He’s got a natural feel for all of that,” Spagnuolo said. “And, I mean, look, he’s waiting for his first NFL interception, right? I told him this before. He got voted All-Pro by his peers last year. I thought that was the hugest compliment to a DB that did not have an interception because that tells you all you need to know.
“So he does a lot of things really good, and I’ll guarantee you he’s got his eyeballs on trying to get a couple of picks this year. The other thing he does a really good job of is he’s created some fumbles by having a knack for it, and we need all of that from all those guys.”
McDuffie and the Chiefs will begin preseason play at 6 p.m. Aug. 10 at Jacksonville. The Chiefs, of course, are hoping to become the first team in NFL history to win the Super Bowl three years in a row.
“I think we’re a group of guys that every day we come out to practice and every day we come out to meeting rooms, we have a purpose,” McDuffie said. “And we’re out there to prove that last year wasn’t a fluke.
“I feel like the standard has been set and I think having somebody like Coach Spags to lay the foundation from Day One and say this is what we’re shooting for and this is what we’re doing, I feel like everybody is buying in and I think that’s the best thing about being out here so far.”
