What to Watch for at Chiefs Camp – Price Carter

I’d like to introduce our newest writer, Price Carter. Price is excited to finally have the AO platform to share his passion for the Chiefs! He was born and raised in the Northland of K.C. and has had a long time passion for Sports and Sports media dating back to his pre-high school days. Price quickly found out that his love for sports didn’t match his body’s love for sports, and he would frequently get yelled at for changing all the radio presets in his family’s cars to sports talk. Price said, “I was probably the only middle schooler that preferred to spend his afternoons with Dan Patrick than an Xbox.” Price likes to look at sports with a critical, and analytical, eye. He told me, “I’m always thinking about the future and what could have been done differently.” Some of Price’s inspirations in sports media are: Dan Patrick, Colin Cowherd, local host Soren Petro and Jayson Stark. Price loves to share his instant reactions, thoughts and general sports opinions on Twitter and you can follow him @priceacarter – Please help me give Price a warm welcome. – Laddie Morse, Editor and Chief of ArrowheadOne

What to Watch for at Chiefs Camp – Price Carter – As the Kansas City Chiefs, and GM Brett Veach, continue to manipulate the salary cap to help pay their bevy of stars, one of the biggest factors to watch for during training camp is the performance of the 2018 draft class. Brett Veach deserves all the credit he can get for the 2019 season, all the moves big or small he made were excellent. However, the 2018 draft, his first as a GM has continued to disappoint. DT Derrick Nnadi has been a replacement level starter along the D-line, but has proven he can contribute. Breeland Speaks, Dorian O’Daniel and Armani Watts are all on the bubble this year. All of them have a clear role they could step into whether it be due to injury or lack of depth, so it’s go-time for these players in camp, and their performances this summer could determine whether they will be a part of the #runitback tour.

Note: The Chiefs are streaming their Training Camp beginning this morning at 9:30 AM. You can also access their stream from their Facebook Page here. The pads go on for the first time today. Football is back!

Breeland Speaks

It can often feel like a draft class is defined by its top pick. Even if the rest of the picks are great, if the top pick for the franchise is a disappointment, the draft loses that shine. Enter Breeland Speaks. It’s no secret that Speaks was a controversial pick when the Chiefs moved up 8 spots in the second round to draft him. It was particularly head scratching considering Bob Sutton’s scheme didn’t have an obvious role for Speaks and his body type.

After the annual Justin Houston injury, it paved the way for playing time for the rookie and Speaks predictably struggled in the role. In the 4 games he started he recorded 1.5 sacks, forced a fumble and managed to give Tom Brady a hug instead of tackling him in the Chiefs 40-43 loss to New England. Once Houston returned to the lineup, his role became virtually non-existent again. It’s no secret that Speaks was out position in the 3-4 defense and the odds of Sutton utilizing his positive traits were even less.

The following year, Speaks turned out to be a lost cause due to his season ending right knee injury and a surprising 4 game suspension for violating the NFL’s policy on substance abuse. This sets up 2020 as a crucial season for the defensive lineman. He showed some promise in the pre-season of 2019 in the new defense of Steve Spagnuolo’s, but not enough to really consider it progress.

One of the biggest questions about him has always been where should he play on the defensive line? It doesn’t take an NFL scout to tell you that Speaks and Dee Ford were not the same body type. Now in the 4-3 defense, his role is a bit more defined. With Breeland’s strength and size he’s a great candidate to be lined up as a 3 technique to rush from the inside alongside Chris Jones. However, it looks like Speaks still hasn’t given up hope on rushing the passer from the outside. A noticeably slimmer player has reported to camp this year, very similar to the transformation that Chris Jones underwent a few years ago.

What do the Chiefs need from Speaks? The first and most obvious answer is they need him to win a roster spot in camp. Tanoh Kpassagnon already has a year under his belt in Spags system and has proven to be a nice chess piece rushing from the inside or the outside. Likewise, Alex Okafor, Derek Nnadi, Taco Charlton, recently re-signed Mike Pennel and 2020 5th round pick Michael Danna will be battling Speaks for snaps. It’s a crowded defensive line, filled with run stuffers and players that all look like the lengthy defensive linemen Spags loves. Which makes 6-foot-3 Breeland Speaks the odd man out.

The ideal role for Speaks could be to spell Okafor for snaps and move inside for pass rushing snaps for Nnadi. Of course, that is exactly the same role that Kpassagnon and Taco Charlton look to fill as well. Speaks needs to be strong against the run and show some of the pass rushing skills that he displayed in his 4 game stretch in 2018. Is there a chance the Chiefs could cut Breeland? It’s certainly possible.

Dorian O’Daniel

The curious case of Dorian O’Daniel is one that has perplexed Chiefs fans over the last couple of years. At times he has looked like the athletic 3-down coverage linebacker the Chiefs defense has been missing since Derrick Johnson left. However, he has proven to be a liability in the run game and is unable to stay on the field consistently (5 snaps in 2019). Again the scheme issue comes into play here. In Sutton’s system he was able to roam the field more and use his raw athleticism to  cover the flat for running backs and check down throws.

Brett Veach made it clear when O’Daniel was drafted, that they thought of him as one of the top special teams players on the board. His contributions on special teams, while important, have not justified the use of a 3rd round pick thus far. Likewise, the Chiefs drafted a player of similar profile this season in Willie Gay Jr. O’Daniel needs to break out in a big way this season for his position on the roster to be safe. One of the ways Spags could use him is as a “spy” for the several mobile quarterbacks that they will face. With Lamar Jackson, Deshaun Watson, Josh Allen and Cam Newton on the schedule it’s reasonable to think this might be a good role for O’Daniel, so he could get more snaps.

Armani Watts

Armani Watts flashed some towards the end of the 2018 season, much like O’Daniel before being placed on the IR. Watts is interesting for the Chiefs defense because his role as a safety is not really defined at this point. His body type is similar to Juan Thornhill, but Watts’ lack of speed (4.64 – 40) doesn’t really lend itself to playing deep safety. The Chiefs made it clear in the offseason of 2019 that they were not content with what they had at safety after signing Tyrann Mathieu and then drafting Juan Thornhill early. Watts only saw 6.7% of defensive snaps last season (74 snaps). Which says a lot considering he was unable to displace Dan Sorenson or Kendall Fuller. Watts has an opportunity early in the year to make an impact with Thornhill starting the season on the PUP list, and unable to come back for the first 6 weeks. Perhaps this will be an opportunity for him to show the coverage skills needed to get on the field.

Here’s a 1:03 clip of Ryan Tracy on Armani Watts:

That was part of a breakdown by Ryan Tracy for RGR Football.com. Please visit and Subscribe if you care to. Laddie has donated before and Ryan is well worth it.

Do the Chiefs have to have the 2018 draft class to be great, to be championship contenders? Absolutely not. In fact, they got virtually nothing from them — except maybe Derrick Nnadi — on the way to winning every game in the playoffs by double digits. However, it is important for the 2018 draft to be more than the year that bill came due for drafting Patrick Mahomes the previous year. Especially because of the money owed to said quarterback.

As the Chiefs continue to massage the cap to pay their core of superstars, it is crucial that they hit on every draft pick they have. The performance of these 3 players — Speaks, O’Daniel, and Watts — from the 2018 draft, could be looked at as an addition to what is already a championship level roster. What they have to add may run into a deadline quite soon if they don’t impress in camp.

Price Carter — ArrowheadOne

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