Voice of the Chiefs Mitch Holthus and Senior Team Reporter Matt McMullen break down Chiefs' rookie minicamp as the players return to the team facility for the offseason training program.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, I think the NFL season is officially underway because
there have been guys on the field. Yes, the Chiefs
just completed their rookie mini camp and actually start an
on field instruction of OTAs. But it was a very
eventful weekend. And we're going to jump in with the
O E I on this edition of Defending the Kingdom.
(00:21):
Of course, it's always brought to you by Ticketmaster, your
best friend, even throughout the non playing season for concerts
and other events. And oh, I don't know, the World
Cups coming up really soon. Let's keeps it on an
RPO at the five.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
It's a lead plot.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
He goes into the ends on this side, touchdown Chunesas City.
However you want. I'm Mitchelda's voice of the Kansas City
Chiefs along with senior team reporter Matt McMullen. And let's
just do a kind of a game here. What do
you think we're going to talk about an OEI in
this episode? Could it be the Office of Evaluation and
Inspection in the Health.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
In the.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Department of Health, in the part of Health and Human Services,
they really look at Medicaid fraud, right, So we could
do fifty minutes on that or pure when we do
the slang term. I've got to be really careful with
these acronymsary. Oh yeah, but it's that's not bad or nastier.
(01:24):
Get me going to hr. It's just for mile shock
ohe like, oh okay. Could be that that we're going
to discuss, or it could be of course, the International
Agency started in nineteen forty eight. That represents twenty three
sovereign states, Spanish speaking countries, Portuguese speeching speaking countries, or
a cattle cattle is it Catalani Catalania?
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Catalan? Yeah, cat which they speak like in Barcelona.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Yeah. Yeah, it's Eastern Spain primarily, but the rest of
these other sovereign states are either Spanish or Portuguese speaking countries.
That also is the OEI that we might be discussing
or we may not talk about any of that.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
I mean, I think everyone's hoping we don't. I think
everyone's like, what are we listening to? Going? We lost it?
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Me? He didn't, you clowns. You clown had Philippines in
the wrong hemisphere. We will not get into OEI, Like
maybe most of the world looks at it, but we're
going to get into Rookie Mini Camp and what happened
recently in OEI A meaning orientation, evaluation, and installation, and
(02:33):
so all three of those things vital on what was
just completed with Rookie Mini Camp. But before we do
any of that in that version of OEI, what do
we have around the world.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Yeah, I've got four today for Rashie Rice, who were
Once again, I feel like I say it every single week.
We're very excited to see what rushi.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
And can I say this, I don't know I'm interrupting you,
but the guys were here today. Yeah. I got to
see a lot of the guys fist pump and hugging.
And when you said Rashie Rice, it's like, you know,
to see those wide receivers walk down the hallway and
just fist pumping and hugging, I'm like, oh.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Fo, Yeah, it's about that time.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
It's getting there.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
It's funny because what Mitch is describing is today, today
is May sixth. It's the beginning of phase two of
the off season training program. And what that means is
they can finally go on the field and do some
stuff like you alluded to earlier. Now there's no like
actual team drills going on from not wearing pads. You
can't even do offense first defense right now. But for
the first time all off season, they can come in here.
(03:29):
They can go out on the field with the coaches
and do like individual work and position drills like in shorts.
So it's not quite football, but it's one step closer
to football. And I'm with you seeing the parking lot
full today and just thinking about how like the journey
really begins right now. Is a lot of fun now
anyway around the world. Should I jump into it?
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Let's go.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
Okay, so we got a a listener.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Let us know where are any of them from the
twenty three sovereign states of the OEI.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Let's see. No, unfortunately not let us know if you're
in the OEI.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
It'd have been Americ coincidence.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
But remember last week we were trying to figure out
where Junction City, Oregon was, so someone helped us out.
It is ten miles north of Eugene, Go Ducks, So
now we know. You know, I spent some time in
Eugene when I lived in Oregon because I worked for
the Salem Kuiser Volcanoes And we go around the Northwest
League and there was a team in Eugene. It was
the Cubs affiliate at the time. It was the Eugene Emeralds,
(04:25):
and they played at the Oregon Ducks baseball stadium. It's
pretty cool. So I went down to Eugene a few times.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Right now, if you say Oregon Ducks, I'm mesmerized by
Jeffrey Bess.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
But that's okay, And maybe we can talk about Jeffrey
a little bit later, because Jeffrey.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Looked pretty good.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
This weekend bill was from McPherson, Kansas.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
McPherson.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
I messed this up every time.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
It's okay because the kicker from the Bengals is McPherson.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Yeah, that must be what it is.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
But they have surets. My wife's from McPherson.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
I knew that.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
Yeah, she's in the Ring of Honor there. She was
an awesome athlete, by the way, still is. But they
have shirts saying there's no fear in McPherson. Okay, so,
but but the kick, it's an honest mistake and it's
made all the time. It's all Scottish, right, But McPherson, McPherson.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Because I've gotten like Nevada, Missouri down yep, and there's
a few others, but McPherson, McPherson, McPherson, I will not
screw that up again.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Home of the Bullpups. The bull Pups fourteen state basketball titles.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
So this is a good one. Nicky wants to know
if you're familiar with Hiawatha, Kansas.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Yes, right at Highway thirty six, not far from the
Nebraska border, just south of Falls City, Nebraska, home of
the red Hawks.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Red Hawks. Okay, yeah, it's a good one. And then lastly,
this is more of as a general question. Dolly wants
to know if you poured water on your head when
we drafted Josh Simmons.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Full disclosure, No, but that doesn't mean you can't pour
water on your head every time.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
We were live on a live stream. Would have been difficult. Yeah,
so there you go. We were live on a live stream.
I'm not gonna do it live on a live stream. Yeah,
but Jalen Royals I did go skipping down the hallway.
Day three is a little bit more like unhinged, Like
we were being very professional on a Thursday night and
we were talking about Josh Simmons and getting into it
on the live stream. Like I talked about last week.
(06:05):
Saturday is kind of a free for all, Like we
our hairs all messed.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Up, like we haven't eaten death warmed over.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Yeah, exactly. Like I was watching some of my videos
that I did and I look so like full of
life and energy on Thursday, and I look like a
corpse on Saturday. But hey, we were still excited anyway.
That's all I got for you today.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Yeah, we were the I know everything goes back to
Shaw Shank, which I know is in nineties movie, right,
but we looked like Tim Robbins after like fifty days.
And the stairs are like in the corner. It's like
they're shoving us dog food under the well.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
And it's a juxtaposition because like we're having fun, like
we're enjoying it, but our bodies are deteriorating.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
It's not good and well. And you had a wonderful
night out by your wife taking you in a mariachi
band and the whole bit you were just worn out
and get you were recharged by your beautiful, wonderful wife.
I was, yeah, yep, but it is a man. It's
a long weekend. It is I I kind of so
is Rookie Mini Camp and I heard you did a
(07:07):
fabulous job with the rookie dinner on Friday night, which
is the first part of the OEI here because the
weekend is really an orientation and we have all these
groups of people we're going to talk about. But generally,
there are the draftees. We'll get into those guys. There's
the sixteen undrafted free agents they're here. A couple of
(07:27):
current guys on the roster. They are can do it
based on the rules and based on their playing time
or lack thereof, or and those guys are interesting. You
forget about those guys. Yeah, And then there's the tryout guys.
Was there like sixty seven of them or something?
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Well, so I wrote it all down. There were eighty
seven total players at the camp, right, so sixteen sixty
tryout players. Wow, exactly sixty So also two veteran tryout guys. Yeah,
Jerron Hyak was back I remember having from last year. Yeah. Yeah,
seven draft picks, sixteen undraft free agents who were already
under contract, sixty tryout players. Then two current players. Can
(08:05):
you guess who they were? Do you know who they were?
The two current players that were here.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Yeah, Chris Olodokin and Chewie Godric.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Yeah, Chris Holodokin and chew Godric. And you know, with
Chris Olodokin, him being at this camp is so helpful
for the coaches because he's been here for so long
and can actually execute the offense. And it really does
help the players that are trying to show what they
can do, especially the tryout guys, like for them to
actually put their best foot forward. It's difficult when the
quarterbacks are also trying to figure out what's happening. And
(08:34):
I think it helped these guys because as of now,
as of this recording, this could all change. But we
signed two of the tryout guys. We signed Major Williams,
a safety from Carson Newman University D two pretty.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Cool, Carson Newman, Tennessee. Baby, that's a yeah, they're at
D two par.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
And then Jimmy Holliday from Louisiana Tech. Six hundred and
fifty eight all purpose yards last year. He's a receiver,
kind of a multifaceted player who can do a little
of everything. And both those guys look good during rookie
mini camp. But I'm getting ahead of myself. You're talking
about the rookie dinner, the Rookie Dinner is cool because
basically it's over at the stadium. In the last two years,
(09:10):
Mitch has been out of town and I've had a
chance to host it, and it's an awesome opportunity because, yeah,
the draft picks are there, Yeah, the udfas that are
under contractor there. But for me, more than anything, it's
for the tryout players because the reality is the vast
majority of them this is their only shot ever at
the NFL, and they probably might know that that this
(09:30):
is their one weekend where they can be an NFL player,
but there's no demarcation line that weekend between a first
round pick and a tryout player. You're all rookies. You're
all part of the Chiefs for that weekend. And it's
cool because Clark Hunt's there, Coach Reed is there, Brett
Veach is there. Everyone is there, and you're celebrating making
it to the NFL, whether it be for a ten
(09:51):
year career or three days, and it's pretty cool to
be a part of that. All the former Chiefs legends
are there, like Bobby Bell was there, and Willie Lanier
was there, Bill Moss was there, even more current players
where they are talking about what it means to be
a Chief. Just stuff like that. I get wrapped up
in that kind of thing. And for the tryout players,
you can tell it really meant a lot.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Yeah, And it's always key for those guys to make
sure there's a.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
Photographer that Leeve Sanders was on his game.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
Get me out on a drill, so I can prove
it to my grandkids. I was in a Chief's uniform
for a tryout. That's one and I loved it. There
were seventeen ambassadors here, seventeen former players, yeah, which I
think that's a great representation. And the fact that when
you're setting in the chair, whether you're a tryout guy
or you're a drafted player, you get a sense of
(10:38):
the where you're at. And I always call it a conduit.
You're running a relay race. There was someone in that
chair before you, there'll be someone there after you. But
whatever category you're in, you're there on that night. And
so again to give you kudos, I just heard you
did a phenomenal job. Thank you, and there's such and
you're so great to represent this franchise to those guys.
(10:58):
And then you get like the local guy, right, the
more kid, the linebacker from Lewisbourg who's played at k State,
or Jared Casey from Plainville h Plainville Cardinals, right and
had such a great career at KAU And you never know.
Two guys were signed, which we call kind of the
echo Boydo guys, because this is an echo Boydo just
showed up with cleats one day, a immigrant from Ghana
(11:22):
who played at case State and Lawrence High for the
Chesty Lions, but made the team and got a Super
Bowl ring. And you never know from that pool of
guys where you're supplementing practice squad and so that doesn't
necessarily mean end all be all of those guys, and
the fact you're in the building wearing that uniform doing
drills somehow could mean to something later.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
That's part of what I spoke about at the rookie
dinner as I try to do a little mix of
you know, hey, welcome to the Chief's Kingdom. This is
what we're all about, talk about the history a little bit,
but also our recent history, all the success and it's
not just Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelcey and Chris Jones.
It's guys like Carson Steele, Nico Ramihio, Mike Kelly Endo,
(12:03):
Malik Herring, Jack Cochran, Cam Jones, Chris Roland Wallace. Those
are all players that went undrafted and earned their spot
over the course of the summer. And it began with
the Chiefs rookie mini camp. And to a further extent,
you're right, Echo Boido wasn't even signed after the draft,
had to come here on a tryout basis, like Major
Williams and Jimmy Holliday did this past weekend surrounded by
(12:26):
fifty sixty other players and somehow stand out over the
course of three days where you can't even hit each other.
And it's such a testament to these players. They put
so much work in and it's so difficult and to
have that payoff of either being able to stick around
for at least a little bit longer making it to
training camp. Like remember Vitally German, the offensive lineman, was
(12:47):
a tryout player, earned a contract, made it to training camp,
didn't make it into the season, but still you made
it to a full training camp with the Kansas City Chiefs.
I mean that says a lot. That's really hard. So
I just have so much respect for these guys. Adds
to the journey I think when you see all they
go through this time of year.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
No question. So if you came to talk about the
Office of UH let's see evaluation and inspection to look
into medicaid fraud, you came to the wrong place. Although
would be a fascinating topic. We're going to talk though
about orientation and also evaluation installation. But I want to
jump into the draft picks. The weekend of me did
(13:27):
nothing to deter my excitement about the twenty twenty five class. Yeah,
and I want to start with the defensive guys because
I think this defensive group has a real chance to
make more of an immediate impact than maybe we think
or or when we you know, when I look at
them and what they did, you see where Ormar Norman
(13:48):
lot his first step quickness is can be so impactful.
And you saw why those twenty percent of the snaps
he had and you alluded to it with the snap
with the best win rate ratio, because that dude looks
like he can really help and maybe help from day one.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
And we have to preface this by it's really hard
for those guys to stand out this time of year
because until training camp, they can't put pads on and
they can't hit each other. Even when Phase three starts
in a couple of weeks and all the veterans are
here for what we kind of recognize as OTAs and
the rookies and the veterans are on the field together
offense versus defense. You get seven on seven, even eleven
(14:25):
on eleven, they're still in shorts, they're not wearing pads.
It's just about impossible to evaluate the defensive and offensive
lines when they can't actually hit each other. But you
can see the first step quickness. You can see their
explosion off the line in both Omar Norman Lot and
Ashon Jalatti, like we're flashing throughout practice, Like Jelatti was
(14:46):
at the quarterback immediately on a handful of snaps and
like messing with the aerodynamics of the throw. That stood
out to me in Norman Lot. I think it's even
harder to stand out as an interior rusher because you
have nowhere to get around and you can't you can't
go through the guy. But yeah, the first step quickness
really stood out. So I'm with you that we keep
talking about how this draft class has the potential to
(15:07):
be like a twenty twenty two kind of draft class.
They got to go out there and earn it. But
this was the first step. And you always say this,
you can't win the super Bowl this weekend, but you
can lose it. Well, draft class can't necessarily earn that
reputation this weekend, but they could maybe lose it. Like
if we were watching them and saying like, oh, that
was kind of disappointing. I didn't get that at all
(15:29):
with really any of these players. But the defenders are
a great way to start.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
Yeah, what's apparent with Jelatti and sometimes with a college
pass rusher. This is where I think Felix now going
into his third year, Felix and Nudikuzama is learning. But
Jelatti you can see, already has a pass rush strategy
because many college players can get by just on quickness
or speed or maybe one move. But we talked about
(15:54):
because you're right, the one thing you can see in
a mini camp setting, even without pats is the footwork
and hand play. Yeah, and how quick that is or
how quick the countermeasures are. You can you can tell
Jelatti's work with George corloftis.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
They look the same Oh my gosh, they look like
the same player.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
Is he Greek? I don't know, does he have Greek heritage
that he played water polo, but you could see it
like he's got a pass rush plan and that plan
includes countermeasures, and so if alignman shows him a certain move,
then he's got not saying he's there yet, but he
just made the point very well. It's an alpha point.
This is just a start, but I like where Jelotti's starting.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
I do too. I'm really excited about it. And it
reminds me of watching rookie mini camp back in twenty
twenty two, when George looked like Derek Thomas, you know,
going against a lot of players who were tryout guys right,
and you hope that your draft picks elevate and look
the part against players that, frankly at times might be
a lesser competition. You want them to look and stand out.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
Well.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
I think Gelotti did Gelatti just throughout the practice. It
reminded me a lot of what George looked like several
years ago. And it's the speeder on the edge. You
can tell he has power that he can't quite show
off yet. But I'm just sorely fired up for the
pads to come on in training camp because we'll learn
even more about these players. But for Jelatti to come
in here as a rookie over the course of Rookie
Mini Camp and to have a plan already is impressive
(17:14):
to me because a lot of times in college, particularly
for players that are being drafted on day one or
day two, you can get away with being just a
better athlete or being stronger or bigger than the competition
in college. We see that all the time where players
are really good in college and they have all the measurables,
but they don't work out in the NFL because they
never had to deal with everyone being as good as
(17:35):
they are. Well, Gelatti to me, to have a plan
like he did throughout Rookie Mini Camp, that just bodes well,
I think for his future when he's facing top tier
competition in the NFL, because already he's thinking about how
do I outsmart the guy across from me, not just
using his talent to beat him like he could have
at Louisville.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
As Matt told you, we're recording this on May the sixth.
Earlier today, I spoke at a damn conference. Now I'm
not cussing. It was the corp of Engineers and a
bunch of civil engineers from all across the country. And
what they do is make dams. So it's a damn conference.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
It's a threefest job. People have to do that. No
one thinks about who makes the damn you know.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
They don't until we have nineteen ninety three or twenty eleven,
or Levy's break, or we have the worst disasters of
our lives. Yeah. So I told this crew today, we
trust them with our lives, and nobody thinks about it
until they have to think about it. But the reason
I brought that up was a guy came up who
was educated at a CAL. Lives in California, but he's
an engineer that was educated at CAL. And he goes
(18:32):
Tony Gonzalez and he wanted to talk about Tony Gonzalez.
Not a Chiefs fan, a forty nine Ers fan, but
he wanted to talk about Tony Gonzalez. I'm like, hey,
Mitchell Schwarz right tackle in the Super Bowl fifty fourteen.
But I said, we have a young man named Williams
that I really really like who ended his career at CAL.
And Noel Williams to me, if Spags went in to
(18:54):
Brett Veach, and said, here's what I want you to
get in the twenty five draft class. I think on
the screen it would pop up Noel Williams. It's exciting
to see what he can do. He looks like a
guy that fits this scheme, wants to tackle, thick enough,
can cover. But he was kind of everywhere.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
Yeah, he was, And like we talked about last week,
a player like him, a lot of them weren't available
at the point that she used for drafting. Like if
we didn't grab Noel Williams when we did, I don't
know if we were going to find a player who
could do a little bit of everything. Maybe we could
have found like a nickelback slot kind of guy, which
is important. But I think Noel has like the physical
(19:34):
attributes in the skill set where you can play him
in the slot if you want to, but you can
also play him outside. And he has like the safety
versatility that we talked about previously. It's hard to find
a player like that, and I think Noel has it.
And he looked the part this weekend too. I mean,
just making plays on the ball. The nice thing about
this it's kind of the inverse of the issue with
the offensive and defensive lines and the running backs in
(19:56):
the running game because you can't really run the ball
at all or or hit or have live contact. But
it's a passing camp, so they're throwing the ball every
single snap. So for a corner like Noel trying to
get your feet wet a little bit, this was a
great first opportunity because I mean, how many snaps do
you think he got out there? Like a million?
Speaker 1 (20:18):
The only one that probably got more was the guy
we're going to next, basset, because he might have. Did
he ever come off the field? I don't think so.
But you can see where Noel Williams and I'm like you,
I just want to see more of him and more
and more and more. But I get so excited. I
see a lot of Tama Connor inhim. I think that's
a decent comp We know about the crazy ball skills,
we went over that on the last episode, but there
(20:38):
is instinct and understanding with Noel Williams that really excites me,
particularly as complicated as this defensive scheme is. Where he
can trick a quarterback into a play, and with his
ball skills, you have the real opportunity to get explosive
defensive plays.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
He's impressive right multitude of ways, and so is Jeffrey
back where you just were speaking about, like Vasa. Go
listen to his press conference, Like does that alone it
makes you think, I can tell why this guy was
a green dot. I can tell why this guy was
the quarterback of the defense and the leader at Oregon.
And that's no easy task to be the quarterback of
a defense playing major college football on a program that
(21:20):
has national championship expectations. I mean, think about the pressure there,
and I think that actually helps him a lot coming
here because you come to the chiefs, there are expectations
right away, even for rookies, like you're expected to come
in here and if you can't keep up, they're going
to find somebody else, right, And that's the same kind
of thing at Oregon and at these major college programs.
(21:41):
And he dealt with that and was the green dot.
He was the leader. He was the one the coaches
trusted to execute the play calls defensively. And he explained that,
of course there's a lot coming in. So he thought
that Day one was pretty good, but there were some
areas he could get better. Day two was the same thing,
like got better in some ways, But here's how I
can continue to improve. That's like the perfect mindset to have.
(22:02):
He didn't look overwhelmed to me at all. Would you
agree with that?
Speaker 1 (22:05):
Oh no, In fact, he reminds me of the kid
who's taken college algebra in sixth grade. Yeah, Calcu is
a junior. Yeah you're taking Calcus a junior. Yeah, I've
got CALC two next year. That's what it looks like.
And you can just see where he's wicked, smart and
in control and understanding. And so when you projected ahead
and again it's it's rookie mini caamp I got it.
(22:26):
We could we just put a caveat on it. But
there's more there than meets the eye, because when you
go when you look at his video at Oregon, you're
seeing kind of stuff all over the place, especially as
his career grew there. But in the rookie Mini camp Bassa,
first of all, he looks more physical than he did
at Oregon. Sure doesn't. He's doing with that, and then
(22:48):
he's in control. It's like he's this is like you
know when it's like a baby bolt He's like a
baby Nick Bolton like and that I don't mean that derogatory,
like he's sitting there going so what does that do?
That tells you that with Bassard's where I get excited.
Looks like he can play Sam will or Mike, and
he played Mike and he's running the ran the defense
(23:11):
in the Senior Bowl. But he also is like running
the show here. And so all of a sudden, now
you've got insurance for every spot on the defense and
a green dot who can play for a green dot
if need be. Because when Bolt's gone down, Tranquil has
done it. He's really good at it. But now you've
got a guy that can. You don't have to move
Tranquill because bolts down. You get a Bassa. And I
(23:34):
think special teams wise him, Williams, we Go, even Jilotti.
I'm seeing those guys. Those guys could all be special
team stunts for sure.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
Again, there are so many reasons to be excited about
this class. It's the special team's value immediately, it's a depth.
But also I can just see these players growing into
major contributors over time. And that's why we were so
excited about the twenty twenty two class. Same kind of thing,
like we think they can help us out in these
ways right away, but you can see there's a clear
room for growth where these guys could be like like
(24:06):
major contributors, maybe sooner than later, but for sure like
down the road. These are building blocks for this team
to keep this thing going for a long time if
they can keep building on their success. And like you said,
I mean it is rookie minni camp. I'm not trying
to get too fired up about it. I understand this
was not with the veterans. The pads weren't on. We'll
find out in training camp how much they can really
gel with everyone. But again, especially with a player like
(24:28):
Bassa when he's being asked to take in information, transmit
information with players that he's never met before, all the
trout guys that are here, and he did not look
like he was overwhelmed, Like it would be very easy
to look at him and be like, man, he his
head's spending a million miles an hour. And there have
been rookies in the past that I'm not going to
talk about where you can tell it's a lot, and
(24:50):
that's okay because it'd be a lot for anyone. But
I just think coming away from it, he really impressed
me in particular as someone that was able to handle
a very stressful situation with great poise. So yeah, fired
up about him.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
All four of these defensive draftees look like spags guys
to me.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
Well, then spags like like run into the draft room
and say like, hey, Bass is still on the board,
and they traded up for him. I mean they traded
up for a lot of these guys, traded up for
Noel Williams, right, yep, I think so.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
Yeah, definitely traded that for Bass and they knew that
they knew he'd be gone. Yeah, like you just made
that point. They knew in fact, that's you know, Brad
talked about it like they had to move to get him.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
So you're going to trade up for a player, it
means that you really liked him. And sometimes you let
the board fall to you. We talk all about that,
and that's a good thing to do sometimes because let
the board fall to you. Whatever player you have on
top of your board or near the top of the board,
that makes sense, you go with that player. But sometimes
if you see a player that you love and he's
not too far away and he's not going to make
(25:50):
it ten to fifteen more spots, you go get him
if he fits your scheme, if he fits your culture
and what you're trying to do. And clearly we did
it with these guys, and it's got to be siding
for them to actually get these players on the field
and for them to find success early on. The next
step for these guys is to transmit that now, uh,
translate that now to OTAs here in a couple weeks
(26:10):
when the veterans are here.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
Again, we're not talking about OEI, the International Agency of
twenty three Sovereign States.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
Just in case you're waiting, We're not going to talk.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
About it today, you know, next with further demand. But
I will say Chris McGowan, right, the battalion commander of
the Irish Brigade, who is a seasoned tickleholer of defending
the kingdom and defends the Kingdom all across the globe.
He's been in the military, around the military all of
his life, and the military is nothing but acronyms. Yeah everything,
you know, fistic. We know.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
It feels like they go out of their way to
create act entries.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
Yeah, they do.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
Like he could have just said it, but that's all right, Like.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
Bold order, can't you just say bold order? No, it's
boh Man, that's Bo. That's bo. I didn't think it
that Bo was body order. No no, but it's acronym.
So this acronym for this episode is orientation, evaluation, and
installation with Rooky Minnikan. Now let's jump into the offensive rookies.
Josh Simmons, we know, because of his injury, is going
(27:14):
to be way limited. To me, this is where the
installation part comes in for Josh because and even evaluation
because even though he's not involved in the activities physically
almost all of them not being involved, how mentally is involved.
Is he mentally rapping if he's with the old line
(27:35):
first of all, and it sounds subtle, but he's hearing
the way you know, he's hearing the way the offensive
line coaches talk, He's hearing the way Andy Hack teaches
or what he says, and is he paying attention and
is he soaking in everything he possibly can because if
you're not physically rapping it, it's hard to just do
it mentally, and so to me, it was evaluation and
(27:59):
installation for Josh to pour so much into there, so
at some point it doesn't become where you're going to
have to think because it's a total reaction position. But
to me, I think that's where Josh Simmons is at
least to get started.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
Yeah, gotta find ways to stay engaged. The good news
is he wasn't just standing on the sideline like all
of Murky miniicamp. He was doing individual stuff. He was
in a jersey out there in shorts, and he would
do individual stuff. He would line up with the offensive
line when they're doing just their their positional drills. Right, So,
if you've never watched like a training camp at practice,
(28:33):
it has lots of segments to it where you do
individual work, you do position stuff, You'll do installs where
you go over the plays basically, and then you'll go
into like a seven on seven or an eleven on
eleven offensive versus defense. He wasn't doing any offense versus defense,
wasn't doing any stuff that required like contact, But he
was doing a lot of the individual and positional stuff
(28:53):
where you're able to do those mental reps. And then
when you watch it, when you're watching your teammates do
the actual offensive defensive stuff, at least you can be
thinking about, Okay, here's what I worked on. Here's how
it looks in practice and it's up to him to
fully appreciate that and to use that when he can
actually go out there and do the full contact right.
So I mean, so far, so good. It's going to
(29:14):
be an incomplete grade for Josh Simmons for a while
now and so he can go out there and play.
But at least he was doing some stuff and that's progress.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
I think the grade we can't see and we won't
see is the grade he gets and how much he's
absorbing and when he's facing coach Read or facing coach
Heck and getting the test, you know, are you passing
that test and did you pay attention in class? That's
where he's at right now. Jalen Royals. You know we're
excited about him. It looked like it was he was
(29:41):
just showing us what was on his draft sheet in
the fact that understanding coverages route running, especially in a
short area route running, and it'll be it'll be a
learning and work in progress. But there was enough to
see where you could get excited how Jalen Royals could
help this team.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
Yeah, he stood out. So I counted number of catches
he had on Sunday. He had ten catches during seven
on seven and eleven on eleven stuff. That's a lot
because they're trying to spread the ball all over the place.
And keep in mind, I mean the team portion of
practice is maybe like forty percent thirty percent, like it's
not a lot of the entire practice. So he was
getting a high percentage of targets thrown his way during
(30:21):
those periods of practice, and I felt like made the
most of it for the most part. You can see
how he's going to help this team immediately. I think
it's in a lot of ways how the Chiefs used
Rashi as rookie year, where it's a lot of behind
the line of scrimmage stuff. It's a lot of like
tunnel screens, like wide receiver screens and stuff like that
underneath throws because that's where he makes his money. I mean,
(30:43):
he has this like stocky build where he's fast, but
he's not necessarily going to be like go route guy.
I don't think he's like he's gonna outmaneuver a defender.
He's gonna use his route running. He's going to use
his ability to get around the guy. Once he makes
the cat make a few guys miss, that's kind of
his strong suit. And I think coach Reid's going to
(31:04):
put him in a position where he can kind of
take advantage of what makes him such a great player.
And I think we saw it a little bit during
rookie camp. Again, no like full contact here, but the
flashes were there for sure, and I'm glad he got
a high volume and he was catching the football. That's
the most important thing. He even talked about how that
first day it's pretty nerve wracking, like you're out there
as a professional, but then kind of a second and
(31:26):
third day you kind of know the whole routine. Just
go out there and do what you've done your whole life, right,
And I think he showed real improvement throughout the weekend.
Speaker 1 (31:35):
That and the fact that you could see conditioning wise,
Now it wasn't Saint Joseph hot, but the weather.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
Was gorgeous is amazing.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
And the fact though that he's these wide receivers run,
they're running twenty to thirty to forty yards all the
time in.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
The drills and straight back and then go right back
and do it again.
Speaker 1 (31:52):
Yeah, and you're thinking, because didn't rush he like blow chunks.
Yeah he did.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
It was day one at Rocky miniciop last.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
Year, like, hey, man, Rush, he's blowing shunk out there
on the field. Well, so, hey, he's come a long
way since Hurland.
Speaker 2 (32:04):
But uh, you know why that's important though, because in
so many ways, the way that coach read uses Rookie
Minicamp is it is essentially a trial run of OTAs.
Because if the rookies came in for OTAs in three
weeks without any of this, or even if like Rookie
Minni Camp was kind of like a blowoff kind of thing,
it would be overwhelming. It'd be way too much because
(32:27):
you're surrounded by like ten year veterans, professionals that know
exactly what they're doing, moving at the pace of practice.
It would be too much. Rookie Minni Caamp is great
because it's essentially the first couple of days of OTAs.
You're you're like practicing before things get real. So I
think Russia would be the first one to say like
he'd much rather be puking at Rookie Minicamp than like
(32:49):
it'd be day one or day two of OTAs, right,
And we saw him make real strides between Rooky Minni
Camp and OTAs back when he was a rookie. It
was like night and day, so message exactly. So. I
think for these guys it helps kind of shake off
that anxiety, that nervousness of like I'm playing for the
Kansas City Chiefs right now and that's Andy Reid over there.
(33:10):
You know, for them, they can get through that part,
get through the jitters, and when they come back for OTAs,
it's football. You're good at this. You were brought here
for a reason. And that's why I think coach Read
utilizes rookie Minni camp in the perfect way.
Speaker 1 (33:23):
And when you came in and you parked that vehicle
for OTAs, now you know what to expect exactly. So.
And I didn't see Jaylen. He didn't blow chunks, did
he No, he looked great. Yeah, so I'm saying he's
off to a great start, better the last day than
maybe it was the first day. So that's also a
good sign, all right. Brishard Smith, same thing. Look kind
of like looking at his sheet, but the instinct that
(33:46):
he has as a running back and his ability to
be involved at a first level or second level area
to catch the football, I think showed up now. Protections
for any guy coming into the NFL at running back,
and particularly with Brashad being only a one year running
(34:07):
back at SMU, that's going to be man, you got
to get this down fast track because the protections are
way more complicated than college. Nothing against college coaching or
but it's just different. And in the NFL, how sophisticated
it's getting with pass rush and coverage and in the NFL,
you know Spags, we all talk about how sophisticated his
(34:27):
approach is. As a running back, you better understand protections.
I keep going back to some IJP Ryan Ear holding
Derwin James in an agg Gapp blitz or Patrick Mahomes
might have been destroyed, and so that's that's going to
be something he's not going to catch on right away.
But you can see the ability for him to be
an impact player out of the backfield catching the ball.
Speaker 2 (34:49):
That's one of the areas that Carson Steele made this
team last year. I remember his past pro battles at
Drew Trenkuill in training camp.
Speaker 1 (34:55):
It was like epic.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
It was like a must see TV like him and
Drew Trnkle going ahead to head and pass pro. Carson
really improved in pass pro over the course of his
offseason training program with US last year, and that will
be the deal for Smith as well. But at least
he was able to show off in a passing camp
that he's a former receiver and that you can catch
the football. He was getting a bunch of targets out
of the backfield kind of different levels of the field
(35:18):
as well. So his hands are great and that shouldn't
be a surprise. I think he's going to be a
weapon on this team. Again, he's got to earn it,
and they're just in shorts right now. But I was
excited about what I saw from him, just how he
can be a safety valve like Jared McKinnon was for
us for so long. And Coach Reed even pointed out
that because he was asked as Burshard, Smith remind you
(35:39):
of Jared McKinnon, and he's like kinda but like you know,
Jerk's kind of more of this kind of runner. Burshot
is this way it's for us to be like this
guy kind of reminds me of him, right, so therefore
he is. They're different players, but the way Jeric was
able to change the game as an outlet receiver out
of the backfield, particularly in the red zone, is an
area that I think Smith can help us right away,
(36:01):
and we'll see if he can earn that. But I
was impressed with what I saw over the course of
last weekend.
Speaker 1 (36:06):
And we mentioned it in the last episode. His four
to three seven speed makes him immediate candidate to be
a returner, especially with the new kickoff rules with the
touchbacks go to the thirty five, there will be more
returns this year. All right, we'll close this way because
the other category, and there's sixteen of them, but I'll
let you pick one and I'll pick one. Okay, Now
get you get first shot is the UDFA. There's always
(36:27):
someone And you mentioned all the other udfas when you
talk to the banquet on Friday night. You mentioned all
those guys that have been some have become stars, Ring
of Honor players here with the Kansa City Chiefs undrafted players.
You'll get one, and I'll get one. Who is your
UDFA that you're going m he might have a chance
to make this too.
Speaker 2 (36:47):
Before I do that, can I give you one quick
fun fact about the tryout guys. Sure are you familiar
with Damien Alford?
Speaker 1 (36:54):
I'm not so.
Speaker 2 (36:55):
He was a receiver out there for us this weekend
as a tryout player. He's six foot six, two hundred
and fifteen pounds runs like a four to four. He
originally went to Sarahcuse, then went to Utah last year.
During Rookie Minnie camp, in the middle of Rookie Mini caamp,
he was the number one overall pick and the CFL draft.
Isn't that crazy? We had the number one overall pick
(37:17):
and the during during rookie camp. Yeah, he was drafted
by the Calgary Stampeders. I thought you would love that.
Speaker 1 (37:23):
That's awesome.
Speaker 2 (37:23):
So I don't know if he'll stick here. He might
go to the Calgary Stampeters for all I know, but
just know that forever that if you're ever watching the CFL,
that guy was in our Chiefs rookie mini camp. All right,
to answer your question, my guy is Jake brenningstool tight
end out of Clemson. You've probably heard a lot about
him if you're following the Chiefs undrafted free agent class
and what happened here this weekend because I've been posting
(37:44):
about him a lot. He just really stood out and
looked the part. He made a handful of leaping, spinning
catches deep down field, despite like sticky coverage and defenders
all around him in traffic. Like, he made a couple
of plays on Sunday when I was watching where I wrote, down, Wow,
that's the best play of the day, and then he
had another play where I'm like, actually, that's the best
(38:06):
play of the day. Like, he was just really, really impressive.
And I think he fits really well on Coach Reed's
offense because he's this classic kind of move tight end
sort of player where more than sixty percent of his
career snaps at Clemson were run out of the slot.
So he's not like a traditional big lumbering Blake Bell
kind of type. He's more of a Travis Kelcey, Noah
Gray sort of player. He's like two hundred and forty dollars.
(38:30):
That's a great comp. Yeah, Dalton Kinkaid is a great
comp and he had great production during his career at Clemson.
Last two years combined, he had ninety nine catches for
over one thousand yards and twelve touchdowns. If you look
at the Chiefs depth chart at tight end, I think
he has a real chance to stick just because of
course you have Travis and Noah. I'm not quite sure
(38:50):
where Jared Wiley's progress is on his injury. I don't
know if he'll be ready for camp. I don't know
that maybe he will be. But regardless that fourth tight
end spot, if you include Wiley a third tight end,
it's Robert Tanian, it's Trey Watson another UDFA, and it's
Jake Brittingstool. So I think he has a real chance
to make this team. Got to keep it going here
into OTA's in training camp. But I came away even
(39:12):
more impressed than maybe what I was expecting going in,
Like he really stood out to me.
Speaker 1 (39:17):
Yeah, and mine would be such a long shot to
make the team, but he looks like a practice squad
guy to me that could end up helping because he
gets so many repsich Elijah Young, the old Missouri Tiger.
Speaker 2 (39:28):
Then went to Western kent to Western.
Speaker 1 (39:30):
Kentucky and blew it up. He had big he hit
a big year for the last year, a big deal
for the Hilltoppers. And again just take this with a
grain of salt, because that running back room is it's
going to be crowded. We just went through Smith and
you just mentioned Carson Steele. We know the other guys
who are there. Just saw Kareem Hunt a little bit fist,
Pump hugged him, and we know about Pop Pacheco, but
(39:53):
it was like, well, okay, who's this guy because he
kind of had an idea of what he was doing
and got a lot of reps. Yeah, so he becomes
a guy at least you watch it camp and going hmm,
either keep him on your database at the very least,
or a practice squad guy and one of those guys
if there's a rash of injuries or whatever that pops
up in November December. But it was one to bring
(40:14):
back for Mizoo fans, going oh, yeah, that guy.
Speaker 2 (40:17):
It's one of those things where with the transfer rules
now we see a lot of players from smaller programs
transferring to big programs, but in this case, you might
look at him differently because he was in a crowded
running back room at Miszoo and then went to Western Kentucky.
So he was like an SEC caliber running back that
just wanted more opportunities and I can't fault him for that,
(40:39):
and he made the most of it at Western Kentucky
for sure. So yeah, I mean he looked good.
Speaker 1 (40:44):
Again.
Speaker 2 (40:44):
It's difficult for running backs in this camp, Like, really,
all you can do is I guess some pass pro
but not really. And you can catch the football and
you could do mental reps and rookie minnie camp. You
can't be running between the tackles. Not a lot of
nine on seven with pads on going on during this
time of year. But still he looked the part and yeah,
we'll see what he can do in training camp.
Speaker 1 (41:05):
And I don't even know, is it or poll the
kid from Wazuo, Isa Pole Pole a so Isa Pole
is another one you're going m because there's always an
undrafted free agent lineman that pops up somewhere practice squad
or otherwise and highly regarded at Wazoo. So we'll see.
Speaker 2 (41:21):
And Elijah Badger is an interesting one too, wide receiver
flesh he did, I mean Badger led ASU Arizona State
and receiving two years in a row, then transferred to
Florida for last year, led Florida in receiving. So really
productive player at some big programs during his college career.
And also if you look at the receiver depth chart
(41:42):
for the Chiefs, I know we talk a lot about
how we're so loaded there now, and I really do
believe we are, but there might be a real battle
for that fifth or sixth receiver spot when you really
break it all down. So I think Eliza Badger, if
he can prove it over the course of the off
season training program, actually has a chance. We'll see what
he can do on special teams.
Speaker 1 (42:01):
Do Yeah, former college teammate a Norman Lot when they
were both at Arizona State and then transferred to other
schools Tennessee and Florida, respectively. But rookie Minnie Camp's over Yep,
you can. You can overdo it when you analyze it.
But I think we can all come to the agreement
that it's OEI, it's orientation, it's evaluation, it's installation.
Well, I think the NFL season is officially underway because
there have been guys on the field. Yes, the Chiefs
just completed their rookie mini camp and actually start an
on field instruction of OTAs. But it was a very
eventful weekend. And we're going to jump in with the
O E I on this edition of Defending the Kingdom.
(00:21):
Of course, it's always brought to you by Ticketmaster, your
best friend, even throughout the non playing season for concerts
and other events. And oh, I don't know, the World
Cups coming up really soon. Let's keeps it on an
RPO at the five.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
It's a lead plot.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
He goes into the ends on this side, touchdown Chunesas City.
However you want. I'm Mitchelda's voice of the Kansas City
Chiefs along with senior team reporter Matt McMullen. And let's
just do a kind of a game here. What do
you think we're going to talk about an OEI in
this episode? Could it be the Office of Evaluation and
Inspection in the Health.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
In the.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Department of Health, in the part of Health and Human Services,
they really look at Medicaid fraud, right, So we could
do fifty minutes on that or pure when we do
the slang term. I've got to be really careful with
these acronymsary. Oh yeah, but it's that's not bad or nastier.
(01:24):
Get me going to hr. It's just for mile shock
ohe like, oh okay. Could be that that we're going
to discuss, or it could be of course, the International
Agency started in nineteen forty eight. That represents twenty three
sovereign states, Spanish speaking countries, Portuguese speeching speaking countries, or
a cattle cattle is it Catalani Catalania?
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Catalan? Yeah, cat which they speak like in Barcelona.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Yeah. Yeah, it's Eastern Spain primarily, but the rest of
these other sovereign states are either Spanish or Portuguese speaking countries.
That also is the OEI that we might be discussing
or we may not talk about any of that.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
I mean, I think everyone's hoping we don't. I think
everyone's like, what are we listening to? Going? We lost it?
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Me? He didn't, you clowns. You clown had Philippines in
the wrong hemisphere. We will not get into OEI, Like
maybe most of the world looks at it, but we're
going to get into Rookie Mini Camp and what happened
recently in OEI A meaning orientation, evaluation, and installation, and
(02:33):
so all three of those things vital on what was
just completed with Rookie Mini Camp. But before we do
any of that in that version of OEI, what do
we have around the world.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Yeah, I've got four today for Rashie Rice, who were
Once again, I feel like I say it every single week.
We're very excited to see what rushi.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
And can I say this, I don't know I'm interrupting you,
but the guys were here today. Yeah. I got to
see a lot of the guys fist pump and hugging.
And when you said Rashie Rice, it's like, you know,
to see those wide receivers walk down the hallway and
just fist pumping and hugging, I'm like, oh.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Fo, Yeah, it's about that time.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
It's getting there.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
It's funny because what Mitch is describing is today, today
is May sixth. It's the beginning of phase two of
the off season training program. And what that means is
they can finally go on the field and do some
stuff like you alluded to earlier. Now there's no like
actual team drills going on from not wearing pads. You
can't even do offense first defense right now. But for
the first time all off season, they can come in here.
(03:29):
They can go out on the field with the coaches
and do like individual work and position drills like in shorts.
So it's not quite football, but it's one step closer
to football. And I'm with you seeing the parking lot
full today and just thinking about how like the journey
really begins right now. Is a lot of fun now
anyway around the world. Should I jump into it?
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Let's go.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
Okay, so we got a a listener.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Let us know where are any of them from the
twenty three sovereign states of the OEI.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Let's see. No, unfortunately not let us know if you're
in the OEI.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
It'd have been Americ coincidence.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
But remember last week we were trying to figure out
where Junction City, Oregon was, so someone helped us out.
It is ten miles north of Eugene, Go Ducks, So
now we know. You know, I spent some time in
Eugene when I lived in Oregon because I worked for
the Salem Kuiser Volcanoes And we go around the Northwest
League and there was a team in Eugene. It was
the Cubs affiliate at the time. It was the Eugene Emeralds,
(04:25):
and they played at the Oregon Ducks baseball stadium. It's
pretty cool. So I went down to Eugene a few times.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Right now, if you say Oregon Ducks, I'm mesmerized by
Jeffrey Bess.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
But that's okay, And maybe we can talk about Jeffrey
a little bit later, because Jeffrey.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Looked pretty good.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
This weekend bill was from McPherson, Kansas.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
McPherson.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
I messed this up every time.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
It's okay because the kicker from the Bengals is McPherson.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Yeah, that must be what it is.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
But they have surets. My wife's from McPherson.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
I knew that.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
Yeah, she's in the Ring of Honor there. She was
an awesome athlete, by the way, still is. But they
have shirts saying there's no fear in McPherson. Okay, so,
but but the kick, it's an honest mistake and it's
made all the time. It's all Scottish, right, But McPherson, McPherson.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Because I've gotten like Nevada, Missouri down yep, and there's
a few others, but McPherson, McPherson, McPherson, I will not
screw that up again.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Home of the Bullpups. The bull Pups fourteen state basketball titles.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
So this is a good one. Nicky wants to know
if you're familiar with Hiawatha, Kansas.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Yes, right at Highway thirty six, not far from the
Nebraska border, just south of Falls City, Nebraska, home of
the red Hawks.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Red Hawks. Okay, yeah, it's a good one. And then lastly,
this is more of as a general question. Dolly wants
to know if you poured water on your head when
we drafted Josh Simmons.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Full disclosure, No, but that doesn't mean you can't pour
water on your head every time.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
We were live on a live stream. Would have been difficult. Yeah,
so there you go. We were live on a live stream.
I'm not gonna do it live on a live stream. Yeah,
but Jalen Royals I did go skipping down the hallway.
Day three is a little bit more like unhinged, Like
we were being very professional on a Thursday night and
we were talking about Josh Simmons and getting into it
on the live stream. Like I talked about last week.
(06:05):
Saturday is kind of a free for all, Like we
our hairs all messed.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Up, like we haven't eaten death warmed over.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Yeah, exactly. Like I was watching some of my videos
that I did and I look so like full of
life and energy on Thursday, and I look like a
corpse on Saturday. But hey, we were still excited anyway.
That's all I got for you today.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Yeah, we were the I know everything goes back to
Shaw Shank, which I know is in nineties movie, right,
but we looked like Tim Robbins after like fifty days.
And the stairs are like in the corner. It's like
they're shoving us dog food under the well.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
And it's a juxtaposition because like we're having fun, like
we're enjoying it, but our bodies are deteriorating.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
It's not good and well. And you had a wonderful
night out by your wife taking you in a mariachi
band and the whole bit you were just worn out
and get you were recharged by your beautiful, wonderful wife.
I was, yeah, yep, but it is a man. It's
a long weekend. It is I I kind of so
is Rookie Mini Camp and I heard you did a
(07:07):
fabulous job with the rookie dinner on Friday night, which
is the first part of the OEI here because the
weekend is really an orientation and we have all these
groups of people we're going to talk about. But generally,
there are the draftees. We'll get into those guys. There's
the sixteen undrafted free agents they're here. A couple of
(07:27):
current guys on the roster. They are can do it
based on the rules and based on their playing time
or lack thereof, or and those guys are interesting. You
forget about those guys. Yeah, And then there's the tryout guys.
Was there like sixty seven of them or something?
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Well, so I wrote it all down. There were eighty
seven total players at the camp, right, so sixteen sixty
tryout players. Wow, exactly sixty So also two veteran tryout guys. Yeah,
Jerron Hyak was back I remember having from last year. Yeah. Yeah,
seven draft picks, sixteen undraft free agents who were already
under contract, sixty tryout players. Then two current players. Can
(08:05):
you guess who they were? Do you know who they were?
The two current players that were here.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Yeah, Chris Olodokin and Chewie Godric.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Yeah, Chris Holodokin and chew Godric. And you know, with
Chris Olodokin, him being at this camp is so helpful
for the coaches because he's been here for so long
and can actually execute the offense. And it really does
help the players that are trying to show what they
can do, especially the tryout guys, like for them to
actually put their best foot forward. It's difficult when the
quarterbacks are also trying to figure out what's happening. And
(08:34):
I think it helped these guys because as of now,
as of this recording, this could all change. But we
signed two of the tryout guys. We signed Major Williams,
a safety from Carson Newman University D two pretty.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Cool, Carson Newman, Tennessee. Baby, that's a yeah, they're at
D two par.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
And then Jimmy Holliday from Louisiana Tech. Six hundred and
fifty eight all purpose yards last year. He's a receiver,
kind of a multifaceted player who can do a little
of everything. And both those guys look good during rookie
mini camp. But I'm getting ahead of myself. You're talking
about the rookie dinner, the Rookie Dinner is cool because
basically it's over at the stadium. In the last two years,
(09:10):
Mitch has been out of town and I've had a
chance to host it, and it's an awesome opportunity because, yeah,
the draft picks are there, Yeah, the udfas that are
under contractor there. But for me, more than anything, it's
for the tryout players because the reality is the vast
majority of them this is their only shot ever at
the NFL, and they probably might know that that this
(09:30):
is their one weekend where they can be an NFL player,
but there's no demarcation line that weekend between a first
round pick and a tryout player. You're all rookies. You're
all part of the Chiefs for that weekend. And it's
cool because Clark Hunt's there, Coach Reed is there, Brett
Veach is there. Everyone is there, and you're celebrating making
it to the NFL, whether it be for a ten
(09:51):
year career or three days, and it's pretty cool to
be a part of that. All the former Chiefs legends
are there, like Bobby Bell was there, and Willie Lanier
was there, Bill Moss was there, even more current players
where they are talking about what it means to be
a Chief. Just stuff like that. I get wrapped up
in that kind of thing. And for the tryout players,
you can tell it really meant a lot.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Yeah, And it's always key for those guys to make
sure there's a.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
Photographer that Leeve Sanders was on his game.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
Get me out on a drill, so I can prove
it to my grandkids. I was in a Chief's uniform
for a tryout. That's one and I loved it. There
were seventeen ambassadors here, seventeen former players, yeah, which I
think that's a great representation. And the fact that when
you're setting in the chair, whether you're a tryout guy
or you're a drafted player, you get a sense of
(10:38):
the where you're at. And I always call it a conduit.
You're running a relay race. There was someone in that
chair before you, there'll be someone there after you. But
whatever category you're in, you're there on that night. And
so again to give you kudos, I just heard you
did a phenomenal job. Thank you, and there's such and
you're so great to represent this franchise to those guys.
(10:58):
And then you get like the local guy, right, the
more kid, the linebacker from Lewisbourg who's played at k State,
or Jared Casey from Plainville h Plainville Cardinals, right and
had such a great career at KAU And you never know.
Two guys were signed, which we call kind of the
echo Boydo guys, because this is an echo Boydo just
showed up with cleats one day, a immigrant from Ghana
(11:22):
who played at case State and Lawrence High for the
Chesty Lions, but made the team and got a Super
Bowl ring. And you never know from that pool of
guys where you're supplementing practice squad and so that doesn't
necessarily mean end all be all of those guys, and
the fact you're in the building wearing that uniform doing
drills somehow could mean to something later.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
That's part of what I spoke about at the rookie
dinner as I try to do a little mix of
you know, hey, welcome to the Chief's Kingdom. This is
what we're all about, talk about the history a little bit,
but also our recent history, all the success and it's
not just Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelcey and Chris Jones.
It's guys like Carson Steele, Nico Ramihio, Mike Kelly Endo,
(12:03):
Malik Herring, Jack Cochran, Cam Jones, Chris Roland Wallace. Those
are all players that went undrafted and earned their spot
over the course of the summer. And it began with
the Chiefs rookie mini camp. And to a further extent,
you're right, Echo Boido wasn't even signed after the draft,
had to come here on a tryout basis, like Major
Williams and Jimmy Holliday did this past weekend surrounded by
(12:26):
fifty sixty other players and somehow stand out over the
course of three days where you can't even hit each other.
And it's such a testament to these players. They put
so much work in and it's so difficult and to
have that payoff of either being able to stick around
for at least a little bit longer making it to
training camp. Like remember Vitally German, the offensive lineman, was
(12:47):
a tryout player, earned a contract, made it to training camp,
didn't make it into the season, but still you made
it to a full training camp with the Kansas City Chiefs.
I mean that says a lot. That's really hard. So
I just have so much respect for these guys. Adds
to the journey I think when you see all they
go through this time of year.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
No question. So if you came to talk about the
Office of UH let's see evaluation and inspection to look
into medicaid fraud, you came to the wrong place. Although
would be a fascinating topic. We're going to talk though
about orientation and also evaluation installation. But I want to
jump into the draft picks. The weekend of me did
(13:27):
nothing to deter my excitement about the twenty twenty five class. Yeah,
and I want to start with the defensive guys because
I think this defensive group has a real chance to
make more of an immediate impact than maybe we think
or or when we you know, when I look at
them and what they did, you see where Ormar Norman
(13:48):
lot his first step quickness is can be so impactful.
And you saw why those twenty percent of the snaps
he had and you alluded to it with the snap
with the best win rate ratio, because that dude looks
like he can really help and maybe help from day one.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
And we have to preface this by it's really hard
for those guys to stand out this time of year
because until training camp, they can't put pads on and
they can't hit each other. Even when Phase three starts
in a couple of weeks and all the veterans are
here for what we kind of recognize as OTAs and
the rookies and the veterans are on the field together
offense versus defense. You get seven on seven, even eleven
(14:25):
on eleven, they're still in shorts, they're not wearing pads.
It's just about impossible to evaluate the defensive and offensive
lines when they can't actually hit each other. But you
can see the first step quickness. You can see their
explosion off the line in both Omar Norman Lot and
Ashon Jalatti, like we're flashing throughout practice, Like Jelatti was
(14:46):
at the quarterback immediately on a handful of snaps and
like messing with the aerodynamics of the throw. That stood
out to me in Norman Lot. I think it's even
harder to stand out as an interior rusher because you
have nowhere to get around and you can't you can't
go through the guy. But yeah, the first step quickness
really stood out. So I'm with you that we keep
talking about how this draft class has the potential to
(15:07):
be like a twenty twenty two kind of draft class.
They got to go out there and earn it. But
this was the first step. And you always say this,
you can't win the super Bowl this weekend, but you
can lose it. Well, draft class can't necessarily earn that
reputation this weekend, but they could maybe lose it. Like
if we were watching them and saying like, oh, that
was kind of disappointing. I didn't get that at all
(15:29):
with really any of these players. But the defenders are
a great way to start.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
Yeah, what's apparent with Jelatti and sometimes with a college
pass rusher. This is where I think Felix now going
into his third year, Felix and Nudikuzama is learning. But
Jelatti you can see, already has a pass rush strategy
because many college players can get by just on quickness
or speed or maybe one move. But we talked about
(15:54):
because you're right, the one thing you can see in
a mini camp setting, even without pats is the footwork
and hand play. Yeah, and how quick that is or
how quick the countermeasures are. You can you can tell
Jelatti's work with George corloftis.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
They look the same Oh my gosh, they look like
the same player.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
Is he Greek? I don't know, does he have Greek heritage
that he played water polo, but you could see it
like he's got a pass rush plan and that plan
includes countermeasures, and so if alignman shows him a certain move,
then he's got not saying he's there yet, but he
just made the point very well. It's an alpha point.
This is just a start, but I like where Jelotti's starting.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
I do too. I'm really excited about it. And it
reminds me of watching rookie mini camp back in twenty
twenty two, when George looked like Derek Thomas, you know,
going against a lot of players who were tryout guys right,
and you hope that your draft picks elevate and look
the part against players that, frankly at times might be
a lesser competition. You want them to look and stand out.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
Well.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
I think Gelotti did Gelatti just throughout the practice. It
reminded me a lot of what George looked like several
years ago. And it's the speeder on the edge. You
can tell he has power that he can't quite show
off yet. But I'm just sorely fired up for the
pads to come on in training camp because we'll learn
even more about these players. But for Jelatti to come
in here as a rookie over the course of Rookie
Mini Camp and to have a plan already is impressive
(17:14):
to me because a lot of times in college, particularly
for players that are being drafted on day one or
day two, you can get away with being just a
better athlete or being stronger or bigger than the competition
in college. We see that all the time where players
are really good in college and they have all the measurables,
but they don't work out in the NFL because they
never had to deal with everyone being as good as
(17:35):
they are. Well, Gelatti to me, to have a plan
like he did throughout Rookie Mini Camp, that just bodes well,
I think for his future when he's facing top tier
competition in the NFL, because already he's thinking about how
do I outsmart the guy across from me, not just
using his talent to beat him like he could have
at Louisville.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
As Matt told you, we're recording this on May the sixth.
Earlier today, I spoke at a damn conference. Now I'm
not cussing. It was the corp of Engineers and a
bunch of civil engineers from all across the country. And
what they do is make dams. So it's a damn conference.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
It's a threefest job. People have to do that. No
one thinks about who makes the damn you know.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
They don't until we have nineteen ninety three or twenty eleven,
or Levy's break, or we have the worst disasters of
our lives. Yeah. So I told this crew today, we
trust them with our lives, and nobody thinks about it
until they have to think about it. But the reason
I brought that up was a guy came up who
was educated at a CAL. Lives in California, but he's
an engineer that was educated at CAL. And he goes
(18:32):
Tony Gonzalez and he wanted to talk about Tony Gonzalez.
Not a Chiefs fan, a forty nine Ers fan, but
he wanted to talk about Tony Gonzalez. I'm like, hey,
Mitchell Schwarz right tackle in the Super Bowl fifty fourteen.
But I said, we have a young man named Williams
that I really really like who ended his career at CAL.
And Noel Williams to me, if Spags went in to
(18:54):
Brett Veach, and said, here's what I want you to
get in the twenty five draft class. I think on
the screen it would pop up Noel Williams. It's exciting
to see what he can do. He looks like a
guy that fits this scheme, wants to tackle, thick enough,
can cover. But he was kind of everywhere.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
Yeah, he was, And like we talked about last week,
a player like him, a lot of them weren't available
at the point that she used for drafting. Like if
we didn't grab Noel Williams when we did, I don't
know if we were going to find a player who
could do a little bit of everything. Maybe we could
have found like a nickelback slot kind of guy, which
is important. But I think Noel has like the physical
(19:34):
attributes in the skill set where you can play him
in the slot if you want to, but you can
also play him outside. And he has like the safety
versatility that we talked about previously. It's hard to find
a player like that, and I think Noel has it.
And he looked the part this weekend too. I mean,
just making plays on the ball. The nice thing about
this it's kind of the inverse of the issue with
the offensive and defensive lines and the running backs in
(19:56):
the running game because you can't really run the ball
at all or or hit or have live contact. But
it's a passing camp, so they're throwing the ball every
single snap. So for a corner like Noel trying to
get your feet wet a little bit, this was a
great first opportunity because I mean, how many snaps do
you think he got out there? Like a million?
Speaker 1 (20:18):
The only one that probably got more was the guy
we're going to next, basset, because he might have. Did
he ever come off the field? I don't think so.
But you can see where Noel Williams and I'm like you,
I just want to see more of him and more
and more and more. But I get so excited. I
see a lot of Tama Connor inhim. I think that's
a decent comp We know about the crazy ball skills,
we went over that on the last episode, but there
(20:38):
is instinct and understanding with Noel Williams that really excites me,
particularly as complicated as this defensive scheme is. Where he
can trick a quarterback into a play, and with his
ball skills, you have the real opportunity to get explosive
defensive plays.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
He's impressive right multitude of ways, and so is Jeffrey
back where you just were speaking about, like Vasa. Go
listen to his press conference, Like does that alone it
makes you think, I can tell why this guy was
a green dot. I can tell why this guy was
the quarterback of the defense and the leader at Oregon.
And that's no easy task to be the quarterback of
a defense playing major college football on a program that
(21:20):
has national championship expectations. I mean, think about the pressure there,
and I think that actually helps him a lot coming
here because you come to the chiefs, there are expectations
right away, even for rookies, like you're expected to come
in here and if you can't keep up, they're going
to find somebody else, right, And that's the same kind
of thing at Oregon and at these major college programs.
(21:41):
And he dealt with that and was the green dot.
He was the leader. He was the one the coaches
trusted to execute the play calls defensively. And he explained that,
of course there's a lot coming in. So he thought
that Day one was pretty good, but there were some
areas he could get better. Day two was the same thing,
like got better in some ways, But here's how I
can continue to improve. That's like the perfect mindset to have.
(22:02):
He didn't look overwhelmed to me at all. Would you
agree with that?
Speaker 1 (22:05):
Oh no, In fact, he reminds me of the kid
who's taken college algebra in sixth grade. Yeah, Calcu is
a junior. Yeah you're taking Calcus a junior. Yeah, I've
got CALC two next year. That's what it looks like.
And you can just see where he's wicked, smart and
in control and understanding. And so when you projected ahead
and again it's it's rookie mini caamp I got it.
(22:26):
We could we just put a caveat on it. But
there's more there than meets the eye, because when you
go when you look at his video at Oregon, you're
seeing kind of stuff all over the place, especially as
his career grew there. But in the rookie Mini camp Bassa,
first of all, he looks more physical than he did
at Oregon. Sure doesn't. He's doing with that, and then
(22:48):
he's in control. It's like he's this is like you
know when it's like a baby bolt He's like a
baby Nick Bolton like and that I don't mean that derogatory,
like he's sitting there going so what does that do?
That tells you that with Bassard's where I get excited.
Looks like he can play Sam will or Mike, and
he played Mike and he's running the ran the defense
(23:11):
in the Senior Bowl. But he also is like running
the show here. And so all of a sudden, now
you've got insurance for every spot on the defense and
a green dot who can play for a green dot
if need be. Because when Bolt's gone down, Tranquil has
done it. He's really good at it. But now you've
got a guy that can. You don't have to move
Tranquill because bolts down. You get a Bassa. And I
(23:34):
think special teams wise him, Williams, we Go, even Jilotti.
I'm seeing those guys. Those guys could all be special
team stunts for sure.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
Again, there are so many reasons to be excited about
this class. It's the special team's value immediately, it's a depth.
But also I can just see these players growing into
major contributors over time. And that's why we were so
excited about the twenty twenty two class. Same kind of thing,
like we think they can help us out in these
ways right away, but you can see there's a clear
room for growth where these guys could be like like
(24:06):
major contributors, maybe sooner than later, but for sure like
down the road. These are building blocks for this team
to keep this thing going for a long time if
they can keep building on their success. And like you said,
I mean it is rookie minni camp. I'm not trying
to get too fired up about it. I understand this
was not with the veterans. The pads weren't on. We'll
find out in training camp how much they can really
gel with everyone. But again, especially with a player like
(24:28):
Bassa when he's being asked to take in information, transmit
information with players that he's never met before, all the
trout guys that are here, and he did not look
like he was overwhelmed, Like it would be very easy
to look at him and be like, man, he his
head's spending a million miles an hour. And there have
been rookies in the past that I'm not going to
talk about where you can tell it's a lot, and
(24:50):
that's okay because it'd be a lot for anyone. But
I just think coming away from it, he really impressed
me in particular as someone that was able to handle
a very stressful situation with great poise. So yeah, fired
up about him.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
All four of these defensive draftees look like spags guys
to me.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
Well, then spags like like run into the draft room
and say like, hey, Bass is still on the board,
and they traded up for him. I mean they traded
up for a lot of these guys, traded up for
Noel Williams, right, yep, I think so.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
Yeah, definitely traded that for Bass and they knew that
they knew he'd be gone. Yeah, like you just made
that point. They knew in fact, that's you know, Brad
talked about it like they had to move to get him.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
So you're going to trade up for a player, it
means that you really liked him. And sometimes you let
the board fall to you. We talk all about that,
and that's a good thing to do sometimes because let
the board fall to you. Whatever player you have on
top of your board or near the top of the board,
that makes sense, you go with that player. But sometimes
if you see a player that you love and he's
not too far away and he's not going to make
(25:50):
it ten to fifteen more spots, you go get him
if he fits your scheme, if he fits your culture
and what you're trying to do. And clearly we did
it with these guys, and it's got to be siding
for them to actually get these players on the field
and for them to find success early on. The next
step for these guys is to transmit that now, uh,
translate that now to OTAs here in a couple weeks
(26:10):
when the veterans are here.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
Again, we're not talking about OEI, the International Agency of
twenty three Sovereign States.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
Just in case you're waiting, We're not going to talk.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
About it today, you know, next with further demand. But
I will say Chris McGowan, right, the battalion commander of
the Irish Brigade, who is a seasoned tickleholer of defending
the kingdom and defends the Kingdom all across the globe.
He's been in the military, around the military all of
his life, and the military is nothing but acronyms. Yeah everything,
you know, fistic. We know.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
It feels like they go out of their way to
create act entries.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
Yeah, they do.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
Like he could have just said it, but that's all right, Like.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
Bold order, can't you just say bold order? No, it's
boh Man, that's Bo. That's bo. I didn't think it
that Bo was body order. No no, but it's acronym.
So this acronym for this episode is orientation, evaluation, and
installation with Rooky Minnikan. Now let's jump into the offensive rookies.
Josh Simmons, we know, because of his injury, is going
(27:14):
to be way limited. To me, this is where the
installation part comes in for Josh because and even evaluation
because even though he's not involved in the activities physically
almost all of them not being involved, how mentally is involved.
Is he mentally rapping if he's with the old line
(27:35):
first of all, and it sounds subtle, but he's hearing
the way you know, he's hearing the way the offensive
line coaches talk, He's hearing the way Andy Hack teaches
or what he says, and is he paying attention and
is he soaking in everything he possibly can because if
you're not physically rapping it, it's hard to just do
it mentally, and so to me, it was evaluation and
(27:59):
installation for Josh to pour so much into there, so
at some point it doesn't become where you're going to
have to think because it's a total reaction position. But
to me, I think that's where Josh Simmons is at
least to get started.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
Yeah, gotta find ways to stay engaged. The good news
is he wasn't just standing on the sideline like all
of Murky miniicamp. He was doing individual stuff. He was
in a jersey out there in shorts, and he would
do individual stuff. He would line up with the offensive
line when they're doing just their their positional drills. Right, So,
if you've never watched like a training camp at practice,
(28:33):
it has lots of segments to it where you do
individual work, you do position stuff, You'll do installs where
you go over the plays basically, and then you'll go
into like a seven on seven or an eleven on
eleven offensive versus defense. He wasn't doing any offense versus defense,
wasn't doing any stuff that required like contact, But he
was doing a lot of the individual and positional stuff
(28:53):
where you're able to do those mental reps. And then
when you watch it, when you're watching your teammates do
the actual offensive defensive stuff, at least you can be
thinking about, Okay, here's what I worked on. Here's how
it looks in practice and it's up to him to
fully appreciate that and to use that when he can
actually go out there and do the full contact right.
So I mean, so far, so good. It's going to
(29:14):
be an incomplete grade for Josh Simmons for a while
now and so he can go out there and play.
But at least he was doing some stuff and that's progress.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
I think the grade we can't see and we won't
see is the grade he gets and how much he's
absorbing and when he's facing coach Read or facing coach
Heck and getting the test, you know, are you passing
that test and did you pay attention in class? That's
where he's at right now. Jalen Royals. You know we're
excited about him. It looked like it was he was
(29:41):
just showing us what was on his draft sheet in
the fact that understanding coverages route running, especially in a
short area route running, and it'll be it'll be a
learning and work in progress. But there was enough to
see where you could get excited how Jalen Royals could
help this team.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
Yeah, he stood out. So I counted number of catches
he had on Sunday. He had ten catches during seven
on seven and eleven on eleven stuff. That's a lot
because they're trying to spread the ball all over the place.
And keep in mind, I mean the team portion of
practice is maybe like forty percent thirty percent, like it's
not a lot of the entire practice. So he was
getting a high percentage of targets thrown his way during
(30:21):
those periods of practice, and I felt like made the
most of it for the most part. You can see
how he's going to help this team immediately. I think
it's in a lot of ways how the Chiefs used
Rashi as rookie year, where it's a lot of behind
the line of scrimmage stuff. It's a lot of like
tunnel screens, like wide receiver screens and stuff like that
underneath throws because that's where he makes his money. I mean,
(30:43):
he has this like stocky build where he's fast, but
he's not necessarily going to be like go route guy.
I don't think he's like he's gonna outmaneuver a defender.
He's gonna use his route running. He's going to use
his ability to get around the guy. Once he makes
the cat make a few guys miss, that's kind of
his strong suit. And I think coach Reid's going to
(31:04):
put him in a position where he can kind of
take advantage of what makes him such a great player.
And I think we saw it a little bit during
rookie camp. Again, no like full contact here, but the
flashes were there for sure, and I'm glad he got
a high volume and he was catching the football. That's
the most important thing. He even talked about how that
first day it's pretty nerve wracking, like you're out there
as a professional, but then kind of a second and
(31:26):
third day you kind of know the whole routine. Just
go out there and do what you've done your whole life, right,
And I think he showed real improvement throughout the weekend.
Speaker 1 (31:35):
That and the fact that you could see conditioning wise,
Now it wasn't Saint Joseph hot, but the weather.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
Was gorgeous is amazing.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
And the fact though that he's these wide receivers run,
they're running twenty to thirty to forty yards all the
time in.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
The drills and straight back and then go right back
and do it again.
Speaker 1 (31:52):
Yeah, and you're thinking, because didn't rush he like blow chunks.
Yeah he did.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
It was day one at Rocky miniciop last.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
Year, like, hey, man, Rush, he's blowing shunk out there
on the field. Well, so, hey, he's come a long
way since Hurland.
Speaker 2 (32:04):
But uh, you know why that's important though, because in
so many ways, the way that coach read uses Rookie
Minicamp is it is essentially a trial run of OTAs.
Because if the rookies came in for OTAs in three
weeks without any of this, or even if like Rookie
Minni Camp was kind of like a blowoff kind of thing,
it would be overwhelming. It'd be way too much because
(32:27):
you're surrounded by like ten year veterans, professionals that know
exactly what they're doing, moving at the pace of practice.
It would be too much. Rookie Minni Caamp is great
because it's essentially the first couple of days of OTAs.
You're you're like practicing before things get real. So I
think Russia would be the first one to say like
he'd much rather be puking at Rookie Minicamp than like
(32:49):
it'd be day one or day two of OTAs, right,
And we saw him make real strides between Rooky Minni
Camp and OTAs back when he was a rookie. It
was like night and day, so message exactly. So. I
think for these guys it helps kind of shake off
that anxiety, that nervousness of like I'm playing for the
Kansas City Chiefs right now and that's Andy Reid over there.
(33:10):
You know, for them, they can get through that part,
get through the jitters, and when they come back for OTAs,
it's football. You're good at this. You were brought here
for a reason. And that's why I think coach Read
utilizes rookie Minni camp in the perfect way.
Speaker 1 (33:23):
And when you came in and you parked that vehicle
for OTAs, now you know what to expect exactly. So.
And I didn't see Jaylen. He didn't blow chunks, did
he No, he looked great. Yeah, so I'm saying he's
off to a great start, better the last day than
maybe it was the first day. So that's also a
good sign, all right. Brishard Smith, same thing. Look kind
of like looking at his sheet, but the instinct that
(33:46):
he has as a running back and his ability to
be involved at a first level or second level area
to catch the football, I think showed up now. Protections
for any guy coming into the NFL at running back,
and particularly with Brashad being only a one year running
(34:07):
back at SMU, that's going to be man, you got
to get this down fast track because the protections are
way more complicated than college. Nothing against college coaching or
but it's just different. And in the NFL, how sophisticated
it's getting with pass rush and coverage and in the NFL,
you know Spags, we all talk about how sophisticated his
(34:27):
approach is. As a running back, you better understand protections.
I keep going back to some IJP Ryan Ear holding
Derwin James in an agg Gapp blitz or Patrick Mahomes
might have been destroyed, and so that's that's going to
be something he's not going to catch on right away.
But you can see the ability for him to be
an impact player out of the backfield catching the ball.
Speaker 2 (34:49):
That's one of the areas that Carson Steele made this
team last year. I remember his past pro battles at
Drew Trenkuill in training camp.
Speaker 1 (34:55):
It was like epic.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
It was like a must see TV like him and
Drew Trnkle going ahead to head and pass pro. Carson
really improved in pass pro over the course of his
offseason training program with US last year, and that will
be the deal for Smith as well. But at least
he was able to show off in a passing camp
that he's a former receiver and that you can catch
the football. He was getting a bunch of targets out
of the backfield kind of different levels of the field
(35:18):
as well. So his hands are great and that shouldn't
be a surprise. I think he's going to be a
weapon on this team. Again, he's got to earn it,
and they're just in shorts right now. But I was
excited about what I saw from him, just how he
can be a safety valve like Jared McKinnon was for
us for so long. And Coach Reed even pointed out
that because he was asked as Burshard, Smith remind you
(35:39):
of Jared McKinnon, and he's like kinda but like you know,
Jerk's kind of more of this kind of runner. Burshot
is this way it's for us to be like this
guy kind of reminds me of him, right, so therefore
he is. They're different players, but the way Jeric was
able to change the game as an outlet receiver out
of the backfield, particularly in the red zone, is an
area that I think Smith can help us right away,
(36:01):
and we'll see if he can earn that. But I
was impressed with what I saw over the course of
last weekend.
Speaker 1 (36:06):
And we mentioned it in the last episode. His four
to three seven speed makes him immediate candidate to be
a returner, especially with the new kickoff rules with the
touchbacks go to the thirty five, there will be more
returns this year. All right, we'll close this way because
the other category, and there's sixteen of them, but I'll
let you pick one and I'll pick one. Okay, Now
get you get first shot is the UDFA. There's always
(36:27):
someone And you mentioned all the other udfas when you
talk to the banquet on Friday night. You mentioned all
those guys that have been some have become stars, Ring
of Honor players here with the Kansa City Chiefs undrafted players.
You'll get one, and I'll get one. Who is your
UDFA that you're going m he might have a chance
to make this too.
Speaker 2 (36:47):
Before I do that, can I give you one quick
fun fact about the tryout guys. Sure are you familiar
with Damien Alford?
Speaker 1 (36:54):
I'm not so.
Speaker 2 (36:55):
He was a receiver out there for us this weekend
as a tryout player. He's six foot six, two hundred
and fifteen pounds runs like a four to four. He
originally went to Sarahcuse, then went to Utah last year.
During Rookie Minnie camp, in the middle of Rookie Mini caamp,
he was the number one overall pick and the CFL draft.
Isn't that crazy? We had the number one overall pick
(37:17):
and the during during rookie camp. Yeah, he was drafted
by the Calgary Stampeders. I thought you would love that.
Speaker 1 (37:23):
That's awesome.
Speaker 2 (37:23):
So I don't know if he'll stick here. He might
go to the Calgary Stampeters for all I know, but
just know that forever that if you're ever watching the CFL,
that guy was in our Chiefs rookie mini camp. All right,
to answer your question, my guy is Jake brenningstool tight
end out of Clemson. You've probably heard a lot about
him if you're following the Chiefs undrafted free agent class
and what happened here this weekend because I've been posting
(37:44):
about him a lot. He just really stood out and
looked the part. He made a handful of leaping, spinning
catches deep down field, despite like sticky coverage and defenders
all around him in traffic. Like, he made a couple
of plays on Sunday when I was watching where I wrote, down, Wow,
that's the best play of the day, and then he
had another play where I'm like, actually, that's the best
(38:06):
play of the day. Like, he was just really, really impressive.
And I think he fits really well on Coach Reed's
offense because he's this classic kind of move tight end
sort of player where more than sixty percent of his
career snaps at Clemson were run out of the slot.
So he's not like a traditional big lumbering Blake Bell
kind of type. He's more of a Travis Kelcey, Noah
Gray sort of player. He's like two hundred and forty dollars.
(38:30):
That's a great comp. Yeah, Dalton Kinkaid is a great
comp and he had great production during his career at Clemson.
Last two years combined, he had ninety nine catches for
over one thousand yards and twelve touchdowns. If you look
at the Chiefs depth chart at tight end, I think
he has a real chance to stick just because of
course you have Travis and Noah. I'm not quite sure
(38:50):
where Jared Wiley's progress is on his injury. I don't
know if he'll be ready for camp. I don't know
that maybe he will be. But regardless that fourth tight
end spot, if you include Wiley a third tight end,
it's Robert Tanian, it's Trey Watson another UDFA, and it's
Jake Brittingstool. So I think he has a real chance
to make this team. Got to keep it going here
into OTA's in training camp. But I came away even
(39:12):
more impressed than maybe what I was expecting going in,
Like he really stood out to me.
Speaker 1 (39:17):
Yeah, and mine would be such a long shot to
make the team, but he looks like a practice squad
guy to me that could end up helping because he
gets so many repsich Elijah Young, the old Missouri Tiger.
Speaker 2 (39:28):
Then went to Western kent to Western.
Speaker 1 (39:30):
Kentucky and blew it up. He had big he hit
a big year for the last year, a big deal
for the Hilltoppers. And again just take this with a
grain of salt, because that running back room is it's
going to be crowded. We just went through Smith and
you just mentioned Carson Steele. We know the other guys
who are there. Just saw Kareem Hunt a little bit fist,
Pump hugged him, and we know about Pop Pacheco, but
(39:53):
it was like, well, okay, who's this guy because he
kind of had an idea of what he was doing
and got a lot of reps. Yeah, so he becomes
a guy at least you watch it camp and going hmm,
either keep him on your database at the very least,
or a practice squad guy and one of those guys
if there's a rash of injuries or whatever that pops
up in November December. But it was one to bring
(40:14):
back for Mizoo fans, going oh, yeah, that guy.
Speaker 2 (40:17):
It's one of those things where with the transfer rules
now we see a lot of players from smaller programs
transferring to big programs, but in this case, you might
look at him differently because he was in a crowded
running back room at Miszoo and then went to Western Kentucky.
So he was like an SEC caliber running back that
just wanted more opportunities and I can't fault him for that,
(40:39):
and he made the most of it at Western Kentucky
for sure. So yeah, I mean he looked good.
Speaker 1 (40:44):
Again.
Speaker 2 (40:44):
It's difficult for running backs in this camp, Like, really,
all you can do is I guess some pass pro
but not really. And you can catch the football and
you could do mental reps and rookie minnie camp. You
can't be running between the tackles. Not a lot of
nine on seven with pads on going on during this
time of year. But still he looked the part and yeah,
we'll see what he can do in training camp.
Speaker 1 (41:05):
And I don't even know, is it or poll the
kid from Wazuo, Isa Pole Pole a so Isa Pole
is another one you're going m because there's always an
undrafted free agent lineman that pops up somewhere practice squad
or otherwise and highly regarded at Wazoo. So we'll see.
Speaker 2 (41:21):
And Elijah Badger is an interesting one too, wide receiver
flesh he did, I mean Badger led ASU Arizona State
and receiving two years in a row, then transferred to
Florida for last year, led Florida in receiving. So really
productive player at some big programs during his college career.
And also if you look at the receiver depth chart
(41:42):
for the Chiefs, I know we talk a lot about
how we're so loaded there now, and I really do
believe we are, but there might be a real battle
for that fifth or sixth receiver spot when you really
break it all down. So I think Eliza Badger, if
he can prove it over the course of the off
season training program, actually has a chance. We'll see what
he can do on special teams.
Speaker 1 (42:01):
Do Yeah, former college teammate a Norman Lot when they
were both at Arizona State and then transferred to other
schools Tennessee and Florida, respectively. But rookie Minnie Camp's over Yep,
you can. You can overdo it when you analyze it.
But I think we can all come to the agreement
that it's OEI, it's orientation, it's evaluation, it's installation.
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