Skip to main content
Inside The Huskies

McDuffie's Stellar Season on Full Display on Monday Night Football

The former Washington Husky has become one of the NFL's best cornerbacks in his second season.
Roman Tomashoff|
McDuffie's Stellar Season on Full Display on Monday Night Football
McDuffie's Stellar Season on Full Display on Monday Night Football

In this story:

Washington HuskiesKansas City Chiefs

Monday Night Football brought plenty of storylines earlier this week: the Super Bowl LVII rematch between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles, two of the NFL's highest-paid quarterbacks facing each other in Patrick Mahomes and Jalen Hurts, brothers Jason and Travis Kelce meeting on the field for the third time in their careers, and Travis' relationship with singer Taylor Swift.

Add to that the play of former University of Washington cornerback Trent McDuffie for the Chiefs in their rain-soaked 21-17 loss to the Eagles. 

By halftime, McDuffie had a pair of sacks, the second of which was a strip sack and a tackle for loss. The forced fumble was his NFL-leading fifth of the season. He added a pass break-up in the second half.

McDuffie has made an impact in every phase of the game. Not only has he been one of the top cornerbacks in coverage this season, he's caused a lot of trouble for opposing quarterbacks in the backfield, too.

"The Chiefs blitzed a defensive back six times in the first half," Adam Teicher wrote on ESPN.com. "Hurts on those plays was 1-of-3 with an interception and three sacks."

More often than not that blitzer was McDuffie, who wouldn't let Hurts escape the pocket.

The Chiefs have also had one of the best pass defenses in the NFL this season, allowing just 1,708 yards and ranking behind only the Cleveland Browns and Dallas Cowboys, McDuffie has been an integral part of Kansas City's defensive turnaround. 

Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnolo deploys the former first-round pick in several different ways and, no matter where he's lined up, McDuffie finds a way to make an impact on the game. He's second in tackles for the Chiefs and usually finds himself across from the offense's No. 1 receiver.

Since 2010, a cornerback has won the NFL's Defensive Player of the Year award just once, when the New England Patriots' Stephon Gilmore was the 2019 recipient.

McDuffie's numbers should put him in the conversation this time. He'll have to compete with pass rushers Myles Garrett, Micah Parsons and T.J. Watt, along with cornerback DaRon Bland, who has 4 pick-6s this season, but McDuffie continues to assert himself as one of the best defensive backs in the NFL every week.

Go to si.com/college/washington to read the latest Inside the Huskies stories — as soon as they’re published.

Not all stories are posted on the fan sites.

Find Inside the Huskies on Facebook by searching: Inside Huskies/FanNation at SI.com or https://www.facebook.com/dan.raley.12

Follow Roman Tomashoff of Inside the Huskies on Twitter: @rtomashoff34 or @UWFanNation

Subscribe to the Locked On Huskies Podcast on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts.

Have a question? Message me on Twitter!

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Loading recommendations... Please wait while we load personalized content recommendations

Published
Roman Tomashoff
ROMAN TOMASHOFF

I've followed the Huskies for my entire life, and to be in a position where I get to cover them full-time is nothing short of an honor. After graduating from Lasell University in 2019, I moved to Seattle to pursue my dream of working in sports media. While writing for the Husky Haul, I also covered local sports for the Everett Daily Herald before the COVID-19 pandemic. After being hired by Realdawg.com in February of 2021, I also transitioned into doing a lot of entertainment writing, as I work on a variety of magazines as a contributing writer for Centennial Media, and have also contributed to Emmy Magazine, as well as Walt Disney Television Studios. 

Share on XFollow RTomashoff34
Home/Football