On Monday Kansas City Chiefs head coach Todd Haley said Wallace Gilberry is in a competition with the other defensive ends on the roster for a starting job. It's good to promote competition and Haley continually says he's about creating competition so it didn't seem like a huge deal.
Except when you think what would happen if Gilberry started. He would be knocking out a top five pick -- Glenn Dorsey or Tyson Jackson -- if he started. He's currently listed as the second team defensive end behind Dorsey.
It would be a good thing and a bad thing if Gilberry started.
It would be good because the Chiefs would be getting production out of someplace they didn't really expect it. Gilberry is a cheap option and he would be another good player on the defense.
"You never know," Gilberry said Monday of being a starter. "I'm at the bottom of the totem pole. I'm still working hard every day. If the opportunity presents itself, I'll be ready for it. But if not I'm going to keep working hard. I'm not too concerned about starting. It's a team effort."
It would be bad because, well, that would be a top five pick that isn't starting. This would be, in my opinion, a worst case scenario situation. Whether it's the case or not, it would seemingly indicate they're giving up on one of those guys and it's way too early to give up on either.
Give Gilberry credit though for getting to where he is today. He's undersized and, frankly, probably has no business starting in a 3-4. But, as I've said before, he's consistently around the ball and shows a Tamba Hali-like energy on the field.
"I had a chip on my shoulder since I was in high school and it got me where I am today," Gilberry said. "I'm nowhere close to being arrived but I'm definitely in the presence."
Gilberry has been playing in nickel situations to this point.
When Haley says things like this in the media, I fully believe it's a motivational tactic. Haley knows when he says Gilberry could start that folks like me will write stories like this and that might help motivate the guys ahead of Gilberry.
Maybe that's not the case but it sounds familiar to the quarterback competition comment from last year and Jones being placed ahead of Charles on the depth chart -- both, in my opinion, motivational tactics.
So in the end, I don't see Dorsey or Jackson losing their job, even for a game.