Chiefs admit factors beyond football played a role in Week 11 personnel decision vs. Broncos that backfired

Chiefs defensive coaches talked through the decision to play Kristian Fulton over Nohl Williams in Week 11.

Charles Goldman — NFL Managing Editor
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In Week 9 against the Buffalo Bills, Kansas City Chiefs rookie CB Nohl Williams played a career-high 44 defensive snaps. In Week 11 against the Denver Broncos, he was relegated to special teams work with no snaps on defense. Instead, they opted for nine snaps at outside cornerback for Kristian Fulton, who got his first work since Week 2 of the 2025 NFL season, when he suffered an ankle injury.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Chiefs DC Steve Spagnuolo confirmed that the team had been trying to get Fulton back on the field for some time now. He previously confirmed that his lack of practice time and injury situation had kept him off the field.

“Well, we’ve been trying to get him back out there for a month, or whatever it’s been, but first it was the health, and then when we finally got over that hurdle, then it was, you know, when Dave (Merritt) and I talked, was, Is he ready mentally? You’ve got to remember, and this is where I talked to Kristian, he’s been in a tough situation,” Spagnuolo explained. “If you guys go all the way back when we got him in OTAs, he didn’t practice a lot. He was hurt. Got the training camp, he was hurt. So, he’s really a rookie in the system. So, there were a couple of weeks there where it was about, ‘Does he have it all down now,’ you know? And that took a little, and then we got to the bye week and said, ‘This might be a time to get him out there.’ So, that’s what we did coming back.”

As for Nohl Williams being the victim of less playing time, it had nothing to do with the rookie’s performance. Despite limited opportunities, PFF has ranked the rookie as one of the league’s best young cornerbacks. For Spagnuolo, it was simple math. You can only have so many cornerbacks on the field, and with Trent McDuffie getting few slot snaps in this game, there wasn’t much work to go around. That was reflected in Fulton’s snap counts as well.

“Well, we can’t get everybody out there,” Spags said. “You know, there’s only… We had some packages for Nohl (Williams). We didn’t really, didn’t get to them. And there are only so many corners out there at one time, especially when we didn’t play Trent (McDuffie) as much in nickel. So we’ll see how the reps go this week. But both of those guys have probably got to play at some point for us. And I thought Kristian (Fulton) did a pretty good job. He had that one, I’m sure he would have liked to have back. You know, that long pass play. But we’re going to need all these guys down the stretch here.”

Chiefs’ $20 million commitment to CB Kristian Fulton seemingly played a role in Week 11 snaps

When Chiefs defensive back coach Dave Merritt spoke to media members, he was a bit more revealing about the why behind Fulton getting snaps over Williams. Fulton signed a two-year, $20 million deal in free agency. It was a financial commitment for someone who would be starting games, not someone who should be riding the bench. Unfortunately, the offseason knee injury and the early-season ankle injury, combined with the emergence of Nohl Williams, derailed those plans. However, with Fulton healthy, it appears that the financial commitment played a role in the decision.

“I mean, I think you know, when you look at it, Kristian (Fulton) was brought in here to play, and I think we all know that,” Merritt said. “And so when all of a sudden, a young man who was brought in here to play, when he’s ready to go, you’re trying to get him in there. You’re trying to get him in a rotation. And so he had some setbacks early in his career here, and so he’s ready to go. And so we’re going to continue to try to, you know, give Nohl (Williams) some snaps, as well as Kristian, but he was brought in here to play for us.”

Chiefs rookie CB Nohl Williams’ 2025 NFL season coverage stats (via PFF)

  • Coverage snaps: 112
  • Receptions: 8
  • Targets: 15
  • Yards allowed: 61
  • Touchdowns: 0
  • Passes broken up: 2

At the end of the day, the team will have to live with the results of the decision. Maybe nine snaps of Williams vs. Fulton doesn’t make much of a difference, but it sure feels like it might have. Fulton surrendered one reception on third down for 35 yards in the third quarter of Week 11 against the Broncos. That drive resulted in a Denver touchdown. He was also the closest defender in coverage on two other third-down conversions in the first quarter.

It’s reasonable for the team to want to see what they have in Fulton, given that he’s under contract for another season. At the same time, the timing of it all feels suspect given what was on the line in a must-win game against an AFC West rival.

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