The Kansas City Chiefs have a new player -- Cory Grissom, a defensive lineman most recently for the New England Patriots. Herbie Teope of ChiefsSpin.com has the news:
A source confirms the Chiefs signed DL Cory Grissom, UDFA with Patriots last season. Signing first reported by @RavensInsider.
— Herbie Teope (@HerbieTeope) March 19, 2014
Aaron Wilson of National Football Post has it as a 1-year deal.
Grissom signed with the Patriots last May after going undrafted out of South Florida. He was placed on IR with an ankle injury at the end of the preseason before he was released just last week. This signing comes one day after the Chiefs lost their own interior defensive lineman, Jerrell Powe, to the Texans in free agency.
Injuries were a problem for him multiple times during his career at South Florida so that's the knock on him. According to Pats Pulpit, he was known as Porkchop.
Grissom spent the season in the injured reserve and was projected to have a Kyle Love-type role in 2014. It's apparent that he was more destined to be like Marcus Forston. Similar to Moe, the Patriots must've felt that his recovery didn't leave him in a desirable position and that his roster spot could be easily replaced.
His NFL.com draft profile talks about the 6'2, 316-pound Grissom as a nose tackle.
Strengths: True nose tackle with girth in his midsection and through his lower half that he uses to hold up single blocks and double teams off the snap. Strong legs. Has a powerful punch when attacking his man off the snap, and also possesses the strong upper body and heavy hands to move opponents to either side to get to the ballcarrier while keeping himself square to the line. Occasionally swims past a drive-blocker or pulls a leaning guard forward to slingshot around him into the backfield, showing a bit more quickness than most linemen of his size and build in order to pressure quarterbacks into unloading the ball. Moves well laterally, and stays square to the line of scrimmage.
Weaknesses: Won't be making many plays outside the box or in the backfield due to a lack of closing speed. Will get lazy and stand up off the ball, and lose leverage. Injury history.
Here's another nice breakdown of Grissom.
This makes 73 players under contract for the Chiefs.