The Kansas City Chiefs are down at the Senior Bowl looking for the players that will eventually fill out the 2012 NFL draft board. The coaching staff will be down there for the week leading up to Saturday's game and they'll talk to just about every player that's there.
But we'll also see and hear reports that team A was spotted talking with player X after practice. It's the obsessive NFL fan in us that has resulted in the media feeding our appetite by writing reports on which teams talked to which players after practice. Not a formal meeting or anything -- just which teams chatted up which players after practice.
This doesn't necessarily mean anything because teams will talk to just about everyone but it gives us a good excuse to start to get to know some of these prospects.
For the Chiefs, they were spotted down in Mobile talking with Cincinnati RB Isaiah Pead and Penn State G Johnnie Troutman, among others, after practice. The theme with those two is experience (as it is for a lot of players in the....Senior Bowl).
Pead came in at 5'10" and 193 pounds, which is an inch shorter and a few pounds lighter than he was listed at Cincinnati. Pead has four years of experience with an increasing number of carries ranging from 30 carries and two receptions his freshman year to 237 rushing attempts and 39 receptions his senior year. He's eclipsed the 1,000 yard rushing mark the last two seasons. The number of receptions he has jumps out at me -- 39 last year, 26 in 2010 and 20 in 2010. The Chiefs always talk about guys that can do multiple things, which Pead apparently can. It's super early in the process but Pead is projected somewhere around the third round.
Can the Chiefs use him? Yep. Thomas Jones and Jackie Battle are both impending free agents. The Chiefs need to pair someone with Jamaal Charles next season and future seasons. It's way, way too early to predict where but a third round pick is a reasonable spot for a complementary back.
Troutman came in at 6'4" and 325 pounds, which is about 10 pounds heavier than he was listed at Penn State. The Chiefs will have plenty of tape on him as he's been seeing time since his freshman year and developed into a regular starter by his junior year. He was an All-Big Ten honorable mention pick by the media and coaches. He's a senior (obviously). Also of note is that he was popped for DUI prior to the 2011 season.
Can the Chiefs use him? Yeah they can. They can use any offensive line depth, really. GM Scott Pioli indicated the offensive line has to be fixed this year. Jon Asamoah fills up one guard spot and will for the foreseeable future. Ryan Lilja's future is less certain on the other side as his contract expires next year. Rodney Hudson was the only interior offensive line depth the Chiefs had last year so they need some reserves waiting in the wings.