Kansas City Chiefs rookie cornerback Mansoor Delane — the sixth overall selection in April’s NFL Draft — has performed admirably early in his career, but (like the rest of the squad) ran into trouble on Sunday against the Seattle Seahawks.
Seattle wideout Jaxon Smith-Njigba had his way with the entire Kansas City defense, and Delane was no exception.
Just before halftime, quarterback Sam Darnold found Smith-Njigba for a touchdown against Delane. The star wideout craftily beat Delane and then correctly
anticipated how to hold the ball to keep the rookie from forcing a fumble.
Before Wednesday’s practice, Delane vowed it would be a learning experience, especially with multiple top wide receivers on deck for the Chiefs’ secondary in the next few weeks.
“It really just prepares me,” Delane remarked. “I think there’s great receivers on every team. You’ve just got to bring it, and you’ve got to prepare. They’re going to win some. You’re going to win some. So just really having that short term mentality, whether it’s good or bad, and just having an expert mentality.”
Delane has already looked back to find areas for improvement, although few NFL playmakers match Smith-Njigba’s talent.
“[There’s] definitely little things,” he noted. “He’s a savvy receiver. On TV, it may look like you should just do this or that, but then you line up across from him and see how it is. He’s a good player. He’s going to make plays. There’re definitely things I could have done better.”
To live up to the expectations that come with his draft position, Delane asks defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo for the difficult assignments.
“I think some people may get discouraged from passes caught on them,” the rookie explained. “But I told Coach Spags, ‘Man, put me in those tough situations.’ I’m not asking for a cloud. I’m not asking for cover two. Go back out there and play man and that’s what we did. A lot of teams are kind of scared to do that. But I feel like we didn’t shy away from it. So, we learned from it, but at the same time, there are going to be times in my career that I’m going to better handle that stick, and I’m definitely going to learn from that.”
After Sunday’s middling results, Delane does not believe he has lost any of Spagnuolo’s trust.
“I think he has the ultimate confidence in me,” Delane said of the relationship between coach and player. “That says a lot. I’m a rookie. He doesn’t care anything about that. He trusts me to go out and guard arguable one of the best receivers in the league. It’s up to me to get that job done and just instilling that confidence in him. I know after talking to him, he didn’t lose any confidence in me. He just gained it, and we’re going to go forward.”
As he moves forward, Delane knows he has plenty to improve. His process is to pick one thing from his game each week and put all his effort into improving it.
“I don’t look backwards too much,” Delane added. “I really try to look forward. If anything, I just take one thing a week and try to eliminate it. I don’t try to take everything. Try to narrow on one thing and really improve on that. I feel like I’m doing that. It’s inspiring to see, but every week I come up with something else I can prove. I’m just trying to get better at one thing every time.”
This week will be against the Denver Broncos. Delane made his debut against Denver in Week 1 and snagged a spectacular interception off of quarterback Bo Nix on his third snap. Unfortunately, he injured his shoulder going to the ground on the play and missed the remainder of the game.
Although the Chiefs dominated the Broncos to open the season, Delane knows that the now 5-2 opponent will be much more dangerous this time. All 11 defenders will need to do their part.
“They’re kind of finding a little bit of a groove,” he observed. “[Head coach] Sean Payton took over playcalling. Bo Nix — I think he’s getting a little of his confidence back. He’s been in a little bit of a slump. Really, it’s just doing our one-eleventh this week and limiting those deep shots they like to take and limiting what they like to do best.”
