De'Anthony Thomas 'surprised' by move to wide receiver

The Kansas City Chiefs have made several moves at wide receiver this offseason to bolster the position. They let Dwayne Bowe walk to the Cleveland Browns, and upgraded the top of the depth chart with former Eagle Jeremy Maclin. They re-signed Jason Avant, and drafted Chris Conley and Da'Ron Brown in the NFL Draft. One other move comes via a position change for a former running back, De'Anthony Thomas.

Thomas will be utilized all over the field in Andy Reid's offense, but his primary position will now be at wide receiver rather than running back. DAT himself said he was "surprised" by the move.

"When we got back, I was just surprised when they told me I was in Coach [David] Culley's room," said Thomas on Tuesday. "So it's amazing just to have a great year with Coach EB (Eric Bieniemy) and then come to Culley and just try to maintain that great work ethic."

Thomas spoke highly of the wideouts on the depth chart alongside him saying, "For me coming in from a running back room to that room is a lot different. There are some great guys up in there that are ready to play and just go out there to make plays."

When asked about Thomas' lack of size at the position, quarterback Alex Smith said his athleticism and speed more than make up for his stature at 5'8, 176 pounds.

"You watch out here, the guy's feet are remarkable," said Smith. "So him in and out of cuts, the speed he has, the burst, those are all things that I think that can help compensate because yeah, maybe he is a little undersized, but all of a sudden guys are scared of his speed, so he does get cushions. Guys are afraid of being able to get a hand on him and all of a sudden he's going to be gone. He's got that kind of physical ability I think to make up for that."

Thomas caught 23 passes for 156 yards in 2014.