Chiefs on ArrowheadOne: Friday’s Notes and Quotes

Chiefs on ArrowheadOne:

Friday’s Notes and Quotes

 · by David Bell

The more I look, the more positive I am regarding what is planned and what is being put together as a Kansas City Chiefs roster for 2018 is far better than pundits indicate. So far, in the post-Crennel/Pioli era, Chiefs have put together 5 wining seasons and 4 post season appearances. Sure, there is a lot of conjecture about how good or how poor the current outlook is or how well the Chiefs performed in post-season play. Indeed, for 5 straight seasons, the Chiefs have been considerably better than almost every pundit and expert analyst predicted. In 2018, the pundits and experts are “Wrong Again.” 

Current activities and some quotes
Early in 2018 I gave a vote of confidence for Brett Veach and his helmsmanship in acquiring players who are the right fit for the team. I give him high marks. Each move seems to anticipate a weakness and we now know why Cam Erving is slotted at Center, why the three William’s RBs were brought in and how Veach acquired the middle of the linebacker crew. Now it’s time for those players to step up and prove it, from those acquired in 2017 to those drafted and signed this season. With Patrick Mahomes, the Chiefs have a dynamic that they have not had in house since formation – a QB who was drafted — I cannot see this being another failed effort. But not just him, Veach has depth at WR, Hill being an ascending talent, and then Brett added Watkins and has RB’s who catch the ball along with Kelce at TE.

We only have to take a look at the most recent activity to understand that the Chiefs are working the roster in a positive direction. Veach is not waiting to make decisions. On Tuesday I wrote about Free Agent Safeties, backing up comments made on Sunday. A month ago, Ladner Morse wrote about Armani Watt’s, a hit machine. Watts has Berry as a mentor. I’ll go with that.

Mike Smith and the OLBs

Justin Houston found assigning the OLBs their own coach to be totally appropriate. Mike Smith already has made in impact. Smith observed: “…If there’s a tackle that’s big and a little bit slower, Dee’s [Ford] got one of the best get-offs in the league. He’ll line up on him. If the tackle is a little bit smaller, Justin [Houston] will go tear him up a little bit. That’s kind of what we’ll do. We’ve got to get our best player on their worst offensive lineman…”

Brett Veach observed about Ford, Speaks and Kpassagnon: “We see Speaks as a guy where it will be Justin (Houston), Dee (Ford) and Speaks… and Tanoh (Kpassagnon) can still develop.”

Mike Smith is outright stating that they are going to use mismatches as a standard approach, whether it’s Houston or Ford and if my guess is true, this will include Speaks, O’Daniel and Tanoh Kpassagnon.

Veach On Dorian O’Daniel
“That kid, he’s high energy…. “He felt like he was ready to play, he felt like he had the pads on when I was talking to him. Plays with a lot of energy, flies around, always around the football, and again, he was a guy we had rated as the number one special teams guy in the draft. So that was another key addition for us. At pick 100, that’s a pretty good value at that pick.”

The 2018 Draft: From Eric Berry
Emphasizing again what Eric Berry is seeing in camp:

“…And just talking about that edge about the guys they brought in (this offseason), and we can’t really compare ourselves to the guys back then, but that edge you see when you watch those old highlights of the Chiefs, I think some of these guys have that.”

“If they’re here, I know they can play,” Berry explained of working with the new guys and his impressions. “I know that they have talent and I’ve seen Armani play back at Texas A&M because they played against Tennessee(Berry’s Alma Mater)… And right now, we just want to win… If we are bringing it…. we just feed off each other and just push through it.”

Andy Reid on Cam Erving
“We’ve got him at center and Cam’s a guy that can play everywhere. He played center his last year in college and had a nice feel for it, so we put him in there with Mitch being down and we’re getting him some snaps. I think he’s done a heck of a job…. “

Back to Kayvon Webster
I wrote about him Sunday and he is the real deal. I can See Veach making a run at Webster but it would come at a price of waiting for him to heal his 2017 week 11 Achilles injury. He is the 2nd F/A CB that I am interested in.

Reid on Defensive Players at the OTA

When Reid was questioned in his presser about the new guys on Defense, Reid Responded:
“Well they’re flying around and there are a lot of new faces. These guys are so wired into learning right now, the young guys that have been here and the new fellows that have joined us there’s great energy. Bob (Sutton) has done a phenomenal job with them along with his coaches and just teaching.”

This sounds to me as if things are forming a storm cloud for the NFL. I like it.

David Bell

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