Following the 2010 draft, Chiefs GM Scott Pioli said increasing the overall team speed was a priority. With the first three picks of the draft, that goal was achieved. Specifically, the two second round picks - WR/RB Dexter McCluster and CB Javier Arenas -- are not only speed guys, but return guys as well.
Both players excelled, particularly Arenas, in the return game while in college.
"We're back there competing," McCluster said this afternoon. "We're rookies trying to make the team."
McCluster is small, fast, and shifty which makes him, on the surface, an ideal return man. Arenas, like McCluster, is fast and shifty. Looking at the two men, it's obvious Arenas has a bigger build. He also said the two are already stirring the competition.
"[There is] no trash talking [between us] but of course competition," Arenas said this afternoon of returning kicks with McCluster. "That's the big thing. You don't come here and just expect to play. No one does."
Arenas averaged nearly 16 yards per punt return and 23 on kick returns. He was on of the country's elite but, if you ask him, it's not all him.
"Each and every time I scored," he said, "it was because of the team."
There's that character label again.