Chiefs: Tidbits and Hidden Gems – The past week has been eventful, certainly illuminating, with many small pieces in action that tell the tale of how the Chiefs view their upcoming season. In interview with Mitch Holthus and Matt McMullin, Chris Jones summed things up nicely indicating the Chiefs had a stellar offense and the defense was operating with a chip on their collective shoulders. The Chiefs have a top defense he said and they were out to prove it. Every snap was all out play by all of the defense and it showed, according to Holthus. McMullen and Holthus then asked Jones about how hard he was going at it in camp and how much more comfortable he was in his second year in Spags Defense:
“…We have such a dynamic offense with the Weapons and Pat Mahomes, This year we’ve competed every day at the highest level. Comfort comes from playing with one another, getting the feel of one another, playing within the scheme and knowing what Spags is going to call in different situations….this defense picked up from where it left off… this defense has a huge chip on it’s shoulder, ya know… were like the second brother of this team… You’ve got this explosive offense with Pat Mahomes(And) Coach Reid… they kinda take off all the spotlight from the defense… We have a great defense also…we come out and compete every day.”
Linebackers, Corners and Safeties
Matt Derrick was with Ryan Tracy today and he has been first hand at the camp and talked with the coaches. Like most of us he observed the cornerback room as the least certain, saying that he gathered that on the outside one CB starter would be Charvarius Ward. No surprise there. He then remarked that Rashad Fenton had been groomed for the inside role — at the slot — and the 3rd CB the Chiefs would need to find the 2nd outside cornerback, whether it was Antonio Hamilton or L’Jarius Sneed. Matt Derrick then said, if not them, then the staff would have to get really creative — which Spags is known for — and go to the safety group. We could witness this today with the players working with the “Ones.” From there Derrick covered linebackers, because the question was “how good was Willie Gay gonna’ be?” Because if Willie Gay is even better than you think he is, then that’s a good problem to have. However, at Corner, they don’t know what they have at all… and that could be a position that teams (opponents) really pick on that first month of the season.”
I thought Matt Derrick’s observation was totally on target. Of course, you know that I believe Willie Gay is better than what people expect, and with the depth at linebacker, no matter who is in the game, at least you have experienced Chiefs to man the role with the two LB set which they run frequently, I think to start it will be Hitchens and Wilson, as well as when they set up with three LBs. Ryan Tracy’s comments pretty much mirror my thoughts. I think that the Chiefs are going with Gay at the Will and swap him to the Nickel role to keep his speed, savvy and pass coverage ability on the field. The three will be: Hitchens as the MIKE, Gay as the WILL and the Nickel plus situational use of Neimann and Dorian O’Daniel will fit what Spag wants to do, adding Gay to the mix when three linebackers are called for. If they went with the front four LB’s DOD is not in that group. If they have five, then DOD has value and he is very good with S/T’s as well. Ben Niemann, is picking up more and more and if Hitchens isn’t out there then Ben Niemann will be. Could Niemann pass Wilson? We don’t know. Maybe Wilson shares time with Niemann. Tracy thinks no matter which defense Setup the Chiefs are in, Gay will be on the field with the LBs.
At corner? Ward outside, Fenton Inside as designed in his use thus far. Antonio Hamilton and L’Jarius Sneed must cover the other outside role. Today? The Ones set up Mathieu and Sorensen, Sneed and Ward. Interest. Sneed is a fit for the Chiefs defense with his versatility and I’m comfortable with this. When you add the third corner, then you slide Fenton into the play. Single High? The question becomes how soon will Thornhill be ready to role? Note: Armani Watts has been getting in some good work.
The Offense Appears to Be Set
Fish and Schwartz give you top level bookend OT’s. Not many teams have two men as capable as these two. A Free Agent was added at LOG, Kelechi Osemele and as has been seen in camp, the ROG is Andrew Wylie. At Center is Austin Reiter and until today that was the case, but he was out for the day. Meanwhile Daniel Kilgore was brought on board from the Dolphins and Darryl Williams offers a possibility also. The depth is there on the OL. Mike Remmers will provide SW/T duties apparently and he is a good fit for that role. I can’t say how quickly Kilgore can get on board with the playbook with no preseason games and Allegretti being #2 Center in 2019. Unfortunately, Martinas Rankin is not available and still on the PUP. I suspect he will miss the first six games of the season which is going to open up a position to one of the young players to be on the roster opening day in: Hunter, Senat, Durant, Barton or Williams. To give a UDFA a chance, I’d say it will be Darryl Williams.
Wide Receivers
The front five wideouts are set: Hill, Watkins, Hardman, Robinson, and Pringle. There is no doubt about that. Will there be a sixth man. The Chiefs depth at WR is very deep. I mentioned in a previous article that Kemp is back and Fortson has made waves too. Interesting problem to have: Kemp has been a gunner S/T’s and it appeared he was going to make the roster last year until he tore up his knee. S/T coach Dave Toub gave the view tha Pringle and Hamilton looked to be locking down that role. So, it’s still wide open.
A Trade in the Works?
Is it time for a Veach trade? It’s possible and has been characteristic for Brett Veach to make such a move at this time of training camp and/or preseason. That would be an intriguing possibility, but who would be the player to be offered up? I would like to see this happen to get help with the CB’s or LB’s and even possibly the OL. Those three groups are my focus anyway.
Those are the tantalizing tidbits for Sunday.
David Bell – ArrowheadOne
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