The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

AFTER enjoying his first experience as a National Football League champion, Kansas City Chiefs’ second year corner back Rashad Fenton finally got his championship ring.

Now as the 2020 season gets set to open on Thursday night, Fenton is hoping he can duplicate the feat as he plays a bigger role for the Chiefs alongside Charvarius Ward and Bashaud Breeland, who is currently serving a four-game suspension.

The 5-foot, 11-inch, 188-pound Fenton joined his team-mates last week in receiving their Super Bowl LIV championship rings, which according to chairman and CEO Clark Hunt, has a total of 255 diamonds and 36 rubies, customised with each player’s name and jersey number.

Fenton’s mother, Lorraine Bethell-Fenton, is a Bahamian who graduated from RM Bailey High School and moved to Florida to attend St Thomas and Barry University where she gave birth to Rashad with his father, Rohan Fenton.

“I felt good about it. It was exciting, it was thrilling. I was just happy for him,” she said. “It was just so nice to see a young man like him accomplish so much so fast. That was pretty nice.”

Fenton, a graduate of Miami Carol City High School who went on to excel for South Carolina and was drafted by the Chiefs in the sixth round with the 201st overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, was unavailable for comments.

But the 23-year-old noted in a local daily publication that he was looking forward to helping the Chiefs to repeat as the NFL champions, especially as he makes his contribution on the defensive end.

“Special teams help me get my edge,” Fenton told the Kansas City Stars in an interview last week. “It helped me feel out the energy. It just helps me out defensive-wise in general.

“You got to start the game off and finish the game with special teams, so doing that on special teams is special. It just helps me bring and put more fuel.”

Last year, Fenton played in 12 games for the Chiefs, making 30 per cent of their special teams’ 130 snaps and contributing 169 defensive snags. In preparation for this season, Fenton has been playing inside and outside as he rotated with the first and second team defensive units.

“Coming into this camp, he knew his exact role being that he would be a dual guy, so he’s playing faster,” said defensive backs/corner backs coach Sam Madison.

“Now we have the opportunity to mix him with the ones, with the twos, playing corner, playing nickel is putting a lot on his plate, but yet making sure he understands that he’s going to be needed in those roles later on during the season.”

The Chiefs, coached by Andy Reed, will host the Houston Texans in their season opener on Thursday at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City when they will also raise their Super Bowl LIV championship banner.

Bethell-Fenton noted that she intends to be right on the sidelines cheering on her son just as she did when they won the title last year.

“You’re looking at a group of young men who were so thirsty and hungry for it (championship) and they never gave up,” she reflected. “Even when it felt like they were choking, they never gave up.”