Chiefs officially announce signing of 17 undrafted free agents

The Kansas City Chiefs officially announced the signing of 17 undrafted free agents on Saturday afternoon. The news comes ahead of Chiefs’ rookie minicamp.

Here is the official list of undrafted free agents added to the club:

Boyd, Dino (T - Cincinnati)

Burrell, Jalin (DB - New Mexico)

Custis, Jamal (WR - Syracuse)

Davis, Felton (WR - Michigan State)

Fields, Mark (DB - Clemson)

Fox, Jack (P - Rice)

Harris, Darius (LB - Middle Tennessee)

Johnson, Gary (LB - Texas)

Jordan, Jamire (WR - Fresno State)

Lindsey, Andre (WR - Sacramento State)

Linta, T.J. (QB - Wagner)

Lovett, John (QB - Princeton)

Monroe, Dakari (DB - San Jose State)

Shurmur, Kyle (QB - Vanderbilt)

Thompson, Cody (WR - Toledo)

Ward, Tim (DE - Old Dominion)

Williams, James (RB - Washington State)

Comments from Chiefs general manager Brett Veach

Chiefs general manager Brett Veach highlighted several free agents on his conference call with the media last Monday.

“We have a lot of guys, and I certainly don’t want to slight anyone,” Veach said. “Just off the top of my mind, I think the James Williams kid, a Washington State runner. He’s a guy that put up a ton of production in the pass game. As you guys know with our offense and the amount that we throw the football, I think that he’s a guy that’s going to be in the mix. I think that running back competition is like it was last year with Damien (Williams) in the mix, Carlos Hyde coming over, Darrel Williams who had a chance to get elevated late and did some good things. Now you throw in (Darwin) Thompson from (Utah State) and now this James Williams, I think it’s going be a very competitive battle for tail end of the roster, there. I think James Williams and the Thompson kid, Darwin Thompson, I think both of those guys are guys that are talented enough to make an active roster. I think that running back position group will be super competitive. The Cody Thompson kid, the receiver from Toledo, is a guy that we had as a draftable prospect and we were lucky to get him. Mark Fields, corner from Clemson, was a guy that played a bunch of football down there and I think he’ll be in the mix for the tail end roster spot. I’ll tell you the guy that I think is going to be really interesting, too, is this John Lovett from Princeton. He was a Princeton quarterback, All-Ivy League quarterback, tough as nails. He actually broke his hand, played with a broken hand. At his Pro Day, I think he ran a 4.58 at 230-some pounds and we’re kind of looking to see if we can make him a hybrid H-back / tight end, kind of how the Eagles used Trey Burton when he came out of college. Trey was a quarterback and played some wildcat stuff there. I think the kid was 6’2”-ish, 235 (pounds), ran a 4.58. At his Pro Day they worked him out at linebacker and they worked him out at fullback and tight end. During the tight end drills he had a cast on and I think he caught almost every single ball with one hand. I think he’s interesting because he’s a former quarterback at Princeton, but I think he can take some snaps at fullback and kind of that H-back / tight end position, play some (special) teams. He was another guy, the Lovett kid along with that linebacker from Middle Tennessee State (Darius) Harris, both of those guys it was competitive to get those guys. We had to make a lot of phone calls, we had to get a lot of coaches on the phones and we were nervous about both those two guys. Like I said, the runner James Williams, the (Darius) Harris kid, (Mark) Fields, (Cody) Thompson, certainly the (John) Lovett kid from Princeton. Then one other guy that you might not see this year, but I think that this Tim Ward from Old Dominion. He was a guy that tore his knee, I don’t know that he’ll be ready this year, but he’s going to be a prototypical Steve Spagnuolo defensive end. He’s long, athletic, started playing football late, and everyone kind of went in there to evaluate the (Oshane) Ximines kid who got drafted at Old Dominion, this was a kid that one of our scouts, Mike Davis, had mentioned, ‘Hey, they’ve got this other defensive end and he’s raw as all get-out, started playing football late.’ The late tape at Old Dominion he really started coming on, we had him in here for one of the workouts here. The NFL conducted another combine here that we had and he had come to that. Spent a lot of time with him. You may not see him this year, but we’re going to take our time with his rehab, we’re not going to rush him, and he could be a guy that could really develop and be a player in the future. A handful of guys that we’re excited about and this should be a really exciting camp and there should be a lot of competition all across the board.”

Veach added that because the Chiefs did not draft a linebacker, they were aggressive after the draft in free agency.

“A couple of the guys here, the (Gary) Johnson kid from Texas and this (Darius) Harris is kid is interesting,” he said. “I don’t know when he will be ready because he had a little bit of a setback after the season. He played at the NFLPA game and after the game was over he went through, he wasn’t a combine guy, but he went through his pro day, went through all those visits and then got surgery a little late in this process because he wanted to show what he could do. So, that is going to set him back. I’m not sure when we are going to get him. Will he be available before camp or shortly after camp? But he is a guy that you might want to watch and maybe it’s not this year, but we think he has a lot of talent moving forward. He can be a guy that doesn’t just makes the roster but starts one day. We are excited about him, we are excited about the speed that Johnson brings. But those are two guys that we liked. Being that we didn’t draft any linebackers, we were certainly aggressive. If you go back to this Harris kid, this was a kid that if he didn’t have the shoulder issue, he gets drafted. We knew that and there was a lot of competition for him. We got after both of those guys aggressively.”

Chiefs head coach Andy Reid is scheduled to meet with the media at Noon on Saturday.

Who are you most looking forward to hearing from this weekend at rookie minicamp?