The old joke around NFL draft time is that Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis will just select the fastest player on the board. There's some evidence in recent years to support that and as a result Oakland now has some speed nearly everywhere on their team.
Listening to the Chiefs head coach, offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator this week, they all hit on one common theme: speed.
Todd Haley: "Similar to Houston and similar to Buffalo in that they can hurt you long-range, they’ve got receivers that can score from anywhere on the field running with the football and without it and they’ve got running backs that can score from anywhere on the field and a couple quarterbacks that can get the ball to those guys."
Charlie Weis: "They draft fast corners so even if he doesn’t play, one thing they do with their DBs including their safeties too, they are fast across the board. Anytime you have the potential of an All-Pro guy not playing, it is a good thing for us but at the same time they have quality defensive backs with very good speed."
Romeo Crennel: "Their skill position guys are all really fast and then they have been running the ball really well with their running backs and their fullback runs the ball really well. Then they have a big offensive line, those guys are tall and big and they can block out the sun on you a little bit. They have been able to create seams to get those runners started and once you get those runners started, they gain yards."
The Chiefs have been pretty effective giving up big plays this year (outside of Houston) so I like their chances at stopping, or at least containing those. Good thing the Chiefs have some speed in the young secondary. They may get tested at times.