Chiefs: Just Happened or… is about to- the latest roster moves in June get the Chiefs back to a 90 man roster and more. On Thursday, June 13, the Chiefs signed former New York Jets TE, Neal Sterling. On June 3rd, the Chiefs had also signed TE Neil Keizer.
General Manager Brett Veach is still looking to improve the TE position, and this was the only real exposure that the Chiefs have on the offensive side of the ball, in my mind. When it gets down to player releases before the season opens, look for Veach to possibly add a player of greater offensive capability to the roster.
Waived on June 13
Waived: LB Gary Johnson, T Justin Senior (Canadian), and RB James “Boobie” Williams — I was a bit surprised at Johnson and Williams departures at this point prior to camp. Also waived was, CB Jalin Burrell due to a non-football illness.
Signed on June 13/14
Chiefs Contracts Extended
Contract not extended (and another extended story to cover): Chris Jones
Training Camp Schedule
Let’s get this out of the way and it is “finally” almost here:
The Chiefs Training camp schedule has been released — at Missouri Western State again at St. Joe. Practices begin at 08:15 AM, and they last for 2 hours, 40 minutes. Practices held at 9:15 AM will last 1 hour, 40 minutes.
Entry Fees: Free except for July 27, 28 and August 3rd. Missouri Western charges $5.00 / vehicle, per day. Indoor practices are not open to the public.
The team schedules the following Autograph days: July 27, July 28, Aug. 2, Aug. 3 and Aug. 4.
Saturday, July 27 – First Practice – 3:30 p.m.
First Practice Open to the Public is July 27th and has an admission fee of $5.00.
1st Team Autograph Session
More Team Autograph Sessions
Thursday, Aug. 1 – No Practice
Friday, Aug. 2 – Practice – 8:15 a.m.
Aug. 3 Autograph Session
Sunday, Aug. 4 – Practice – 8:15 a.m.
More Aug. Autograph Sessions
Friday, Aug. 9 – No Practice
Saturday, Aug. 10:
Preseason Game No. 1:
Chiefs vs. Bengals– 7:00 p.m. CT
Sunday, Aug. 11 – No Practice
Last Aug. Autograph Sessions
Thursday, Aug. 15 – Practice – 8:15 a.m.
Military Appreciation Day – Final Camp Practice
What to Expect: A quick peek will do for now
As of today, we are 84 days from opening day, September 8, 2019. Things will really move quickly once we get to training camp and then we will all be looking at preseason and then player cuts to get down to 53 +10 (PS).
On the offensive side of the ball, competition for the #2 TE role is going to be ongoing and intense. Witness the two TE signings noted in the opening topic of this article.
The Offensive line is going to have some very serious competition. This past week Laurent Duvernay-Tardif (LDT) provided some light on the interior linemen and from that you can construe an interior line group of himself at ROG, Austin Reiter at Center and Andrew Wylie at LOG. Here is an article on Reiter’s emergence by John Dixon over at Arrowhead Pride and I concur, called, “Austin Reiter speaks like a man with the inside track to become the starting center” in which Reiter said this about grading his own performance last year:
“I don’t know what letter grade I would give myself. In some situations, I think I did well. There’s obviously always things I could work on. That’s what keeps a pro at this level: not being comfortable, and always finding stuff to work on. But like I told myself before I got in to this league, I know I’m a capable player. I know I can play at this level.”
So, it makes sense and why Cam Erving is perfect for the Swing Role and that could be at tackle or guard either one. Erving signed a multi-year deal last year in an extension. He is the most versatile player along all positions on the Offensive Line. Recall that in 2018, LDT was injured and knocked out for 11 games. First Jordan Devey stepped in and he was knocked out for the season with Injury. At the same time Mitch Morse suffered another serious head injury and missed 5 games, which is where Reiter staged his 2018 emergence. Morse and Devey have departed.
At the same time, Andrew Wylie showed a lot and logged time at both Tackle and Guard and looked very good. Both Reiter and Wylie emerged as major players for the offensive line and most fans did not know where they came from. With Reiter taking over for Morse, Andrew Wylie has emerged as the potential starting LOG and having a solid move of Cam Erving to all-round Swing lineman, the front 5 looks very solid at this point.
Keep in mind the Chiefs drafted Kahlil McKenzie in 2018 and he had a “redshirt” year on the 53 man roster for the season and was never active on the 44 man game day roster. He won’t have such a free ride in 2019 but, the Chiefs have high hopes for McKenzie being a top Offensive Lineman. That list of players then, gives you 7 of likely 8 players on the roster for the offensive line with Eric Fisher serving as the starting LOT.
The offensive line is a good group of players and realistically should be near a top 10 group in 2019… they were 13th according to PFF’s analysis for 2018.
The wide receiving group looks to be outstanding because we now understand that Tyreek Hill will play (at some point) in 2019, that Sammie Watkins is looking fast and totally physically fit, that the Chiefs drafted the speedy Mecole Hardman who appears to me to be a very good bet to move quickly up the list of expected snaps making a name for himself and making Hill’s return just part of the story.
It will now look like a 1-2-3 as being Hill, Watkins, Hardman… and when we get there, I very much like adding in a solid 4th and 5th in Robinson and Pringle.
Running Backs are very solid also. Damien and Darrell Williams block out 2 of the 3 top roles. The Chiefs signed Carlos Hyde and have enough players behind this to keep it interesting. I still think multi-tool John Lovett — QB out of Princeton — and FB Anthony Sherman round it out. I’m intrigued by Lovett and what he brings to the table. Damien Williams took over with the Kareem Hunt release in 2018 and didn’t look back. The Chiefs did not retain James “Boobie” Williams but signed D’Juan Hines (FB) which is interesting. They also signed Josh Caldwell as noted above.
I am not even going to guess about a #3 QB. It should be Litton. Henne will be #2 and we have the best QB in football as a starter in Patrick Mahomes II.
Ransom Hawthorne hashed through the mix in his article yesterday so take the time to review that because Linebacker players and roles is probably the most crucial on Defense. See Ransom’s article here: on Defense, the LB role: which roles and which players fit to the task at hand will also be intense. I noted that the release of Gary Johnson surprised me a bit but that is real world stuff. He was one player that I knew something about specifically and the fact that DJ was working with him also was encouraging. A lesser number of players for the linebacker role will be on the roster for the 43. I suspect it might be six though. Certainly the DL front will get the larger number over the linebackers.
Adding FB D’Juan Hines to the mix on the 14th is a clue (to the numbers of position players) when they have LB Ray Davison, who was on the PS in 2018.
I still think that there has to be a concern related to experienced CB’s. As long as Charvarius Ward and Bashaud Breeland fulfill expectations, then my worry here is minimal. Keep in mind the Chiefs also signed the AAF star player, Keith Reaser, and I was big on that. While he was playing in that quickly defunct league, I paid particular attention to his footwork and I believe he has improved over what he showed when he was with the club prior to injury that slowed him down and caused his release in 2018.
If this gives you a view of the front 4 CB’s as likely being: Kendall Fuller, Charvarius Ward, Bashaud Breeland, Keith Reaser and from what I read into things, Rashad Fenton — Gamecocks — looks good for adding to the mix with the possibility that Tremon Smith gets a nod for more defensive snaps than just a couple. T.S. can be important due to kick returns but with so much talent on offense who can double down with that role, it is less likely that Smith would be retained unless he breaks into a purposeful role in the secondary.
I do have a positive view of Rashad Fenton as noted – and will be interested to see how well he plays in Training Camp. I like the length of Andrew Soroh of Florida Atlantic at 6-foot-2, 210 lbs. Rounding out the CBs group are D’Montre Wade and Harold Jones-Quartey.
GM Brett Veach and DC Steve Spagnuolo have a top level Safety corp. I believe that the players on the defensive front end, in its multitude of “variations” is going to be a very strong group offering a strong pass rush, and it is a group that will be able to contend with any opponent. I feel the Chiefs have moved their defense up to a top 15 defense (and probably better) certainly playing as a top ten outfit by the time the playoffs role around. See the article by Paul Pulley on the overall defense called: The Confusion Conclusion: Chiefs New Look Defense, earlier this week.
Paul goes so far as to predict a top 10 defense in 2019. I am close to that myself but a bit more cautious about that prediction. I fully believe this is going to be a very good defense.
Bottom Line for This Team
I have the Chiefs at 12-4, winning their 4th division title in a row, and appearing in, and winning, the Super Bowl. I am positive enough about this group of players to believe this will happen.
Heavens, they may win 14 with a defense to round out the power of the offense.
David Bell — ArrowheadOne
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