Chamarri Conner Is Impressing Steve Spagnuolo This Preseason

Chiefs rookie defensive back Chamarri Conner is standing out for all the right reasons, even catching the eye of defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo.

As the Kansas City Chiefs' third and final preseason game of 2023 is just a handful of days away, the eventual 53-man roster and practice squad are beginning to come into clear focus. Rookie defensive back Chamarri Conner is a virtual lock to make the team, and his performance over the past couple of months is a significant reason why.

Conner, the No. 119 overall selection back in April's NFL Draft, was viewed in college as a versatile chess piece on defense and someone who — at the least — could emerge as a special teams option in year one. Over the course of rookie minicamp, organized team activities (OTAs), training camp and the preseason, the Virginia Tech product has become a popular name in Chiefs circles. The first-year man is not only showcasing an understanding of one role within Steve Spagnuolo's defense, but he's learning several different ones on the fly. That stands out to many fellow players and coaches, with Spagnuolo being one of them.

Following Tuesday morning's training camp practice, Spagnuolo glowed about Conner. Citing his ability to have a lot of stuff thrown at him and still have it translate to quality play on the field, the Chiefs' defensive coordinator said his fourth-round rookie is stepping up to the plate.

"Yeah, listen, we're kind of force-feeding him a lot of things," Spagnuolo said. "You probably notice he's in a lot of spots there. He's kind of earned it and deserved it with the way he's played in training camp. I think the veterans have some confidence in him. We'll try to get some other guys healthy and back, and then we'll see where all the moving parts go. But for right now... listen, he's played some safety, he's played some nickel, he's played some dime, and that's good to see for a young guy."

Through two preseason games, Conner has four tackles and a sack in 70 combined defensive snaps. Spagnuolo has used him in a variety of pre-snap alignments, and he's stood out the most when asked to free-rush in a L'Jarius Sneed role. With Sneed still nursing some knee swelling and not being back in the lineup for practices or games, that's allowed others such as Conner to gain more valuable reps. 

When asked whether this is a normal workload for a first-year player to accept in his scheme, Spagnuolo once again tipped his cap to Conner for handling it well. 

"Not typically," Spagnuolo said. "Going back to even Trent (McDuffie) a year ago, we didn't play him at nickel right away because we wanted him to kind of get settled, then he got hurt and came back, but he didn't get force-fed. LJ (Sneed), I'm trying to remember LJ's first year. If I remember correctly, he played corner and got hurt too [but] when he came back, we put him at nickel. Chamarri's probably been the one guy. Honey Badger (Tyrann Mathieu) did it when he first got here, but he was a veteran. He played them all. It's a real impressive thing for (Conner) to have the confidence in people that he can play in a bunch of different positions." 

As Kansas City wraps up the preseason with a Saturday afternoon outing against the Cleveland Browns, it's unlikely that high-profile starters will get much (if any) run. As a result, Conner could have another chance to showcase his versatile skill set if there's more that Spagnuolo and company want to see out of him. Even if Sneed returns in time for Week 1 of the regular season and the rookie is relegated in terms of role, the offseason and subsequent weeks were beneficial for both team and player. Conner is impressing Spagnuolo in a way some veterans never do, which says a lot about someone who's just 23 years old. 

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