Former Dolphin Sam Madison clicks with Miami Gardens native and Chiefs player Rashad Fenton,
■ Sam Madison made the jump from high school to the NFL last year when he left St. Thomas Aquinas High School to become the Chiefs’ secondary coach.
The day the Kansas City Chiefs drafted Rashad Fenton last year was a whirlwind for the cornerback from the South Carolina Gamecocks.
Phone call after phone call poured in from members of the Chiefs coaching staff as Kansas City was prepared to announce its pick. Eventually, a phone number with a Florida area code popped up on Fenton’s screen.
“I got the call and I’m like, ‘Hold on, this a Florida number,’ ” said Fenton, who was born in Miami and played at Miami Carol City Senior High School in Miami Gardens. “Who is this calling?”
A familiar voice was on the other end. Sam Madison, who had coached Fenton in 7-on-7 just a few years earlier and now was coaching Kansas City’s cornerbacks, wanted to welcome him to the NFL.
“I heard Coach Sam’s voice and I’m like, ‘Oh, yeah. It’s on now,’ ” Fenton said.
Fenton was new to the Chiefs after they took him in the sixth round of the 2019 NFL Draft, but so was Madison, who was a fourtime Pro Bowl cornerback for the Miami Dolphins making the jump from coaching high school to coaching in the NFL.
Fenton knew what to expect from Madison when he started playing for him in Kansas City. Now the rest of the Chiefs’ second
ary does, too.
“He just brings that fire, that passion, that energy,” cornerback Kendall Fuller said. “He’s able to talk to us from the standpoint as a player, just things that he looked at, things that he saw when he was a player.”
Said fellow cornerback Bashaud Breeland: “He brings the energy, you know what I mean? He coaches you, stays on you — he just brings that dog out of you.”
His passion helped make Madison wildly successful in two seasons as an assistant coach for St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale, where he helped coach Hurricanes cornerback Al Blades Jr., Florida State defensive back Asante Samuel Jr., Alabama defensive back Jordan Battle and Oklahoma cornerback Jaden Davis. He was also a fixture in the 7-on-7 scene as a defensive backs coach for the South Florida Express. That is where he crossed paths with Fenton.
The defensive back wasn’t one of the most high-profile prospects on the 7-on-7 powerhouse.
“I was completely underrated,” Fenton said.
He needed Madison’s tutelage. What he found was a surprising energizer.
Fenton grew up in the shadow of Hard Rock Stadium and will play in the Dolphins’ stadium Sunday in Super Bowl 54 against the San Francisco 49ers. As a young cornerback in Dade County, the exploits of Madison and fellow cornerback Patrick Surtain were inescapable. He knew he would get Pro Bowl insight, but he didn’t know how it would be delivered.
“His energy rubbed off,” Fenton said. “Sam has a big thing of energy and always being not hyped, but energized about the game of ball. And whatever you do — and especially your craft — just make sure you’re doing it right. Do it with the amount of energy that nobody can deny that type of energy.
“It’s been an honor to be up under his wing . ... You kind of want to put that apart and just stick with the one-on-one relationship, but at the end of the day it’s hard to forget about the legend because it’s Sam Madison.”
Madison — and Kansas City’s entire new defensive staff — has proven to be a major difference this season. Last season, the Chiefs allowed the second-most points in the NFL and finished No. 24 in scoring defense. This season, Kansas City vaulted to No. 7 in scoring defense and No. 17 in total yards allowed. The Chiefs allowed more than 800 fewer passing yards in 2019 than they did in 2018.
Madison tries not to take too much credit for Kansas City’s success. After all, he wants to just be the consummate players’ coach.
Whatever he’s doing is working.
“It’s just been fun really trying to hold up these guys’ little, small skills and just give them some more techniques that they can add to what they already have,” said Madison, who won Super Bowl 42 playing for the New York Giants in 2008. “It wasn’t really hard to get them all on the same page, especially when you have championship experience and that’s what we have on our staff.”