Chiefs’ New Offense Slowly Coming Together
It is a new era for the Kansas City Chiefs offense.
With a new offensive coordinator in Brian Daboll the Chiefs are in the process of learning as much as they can about their new system before training camp. Since Romeo Crennel’s defense is already installed, it is crucial that the Chiefs catch up on offense so the team is balanced once the season begins.
The Chiefs have changes all over their offense and not just in scheme. They have a new right tackle in Eric Winston and will also be integrating second-year center Rodney Hudson into a starting roll. According to Winston, chemistry on the offensive line is key.
“The good offensive lines throughout the years, wherever they were, I guarantee you they hung out together off the field,” Winston told KCChiefs.com. “They played golf together, they went out together, and they did a lot of things together. You are going to spend too many hours together not to be friends. We’ve got to be able to have fun and we’ve got to be able to do those things.”
There is no player Winston will be closer to this season than guard Jon Asamoah who is entering his critical third year with the team. Winston says he can tell Asamoah is going to be a good player.
“Obviously, John Asamoah and I have gotten every rep together we possibly can,” Winston said. “He’s going to be a good player. I’ve been lucky enough to play with a lot of good right guards in my time. They make you look better when they’re good, because they’re the guy on your back that’s going to help you, that’s going to cover you sometimes when you miss it and John’s that kind of player.”
As far as the receivers go, second-year man Jonathan Baldwin is appreciative of his first true NFL offseason.
“Last year, we didn’t have one,” said Baldwin. ” his year we do, so being able to learn the offense and actually going out and run those routes with some coaching out there with you. It definitely helps a lot when you have a playbook. You’re not being able to be coached up, you are just going out there running what you think the coaches like. It’s definitely an advantage to be able to do these things and we all appreciate it a heck of a lot.”
Baldwin also says that the team is picking up Daboll’s offense quickly.
“You keep doing the same things over and over again, and it’s starting to become repetitive. Every single day we watch the tape. We install more plays and we go over those plays before practice. We have walk-throughs and then we run those plays during practice and then we also make the corrections on the film. I would definitely say that it’s starting to become second nature.”
Crennel said that his goal is to have the offense in place by the time the team gets to training camp.
“We have a new offensive coordinator, so the biggest thing is, I want the offense to be in place and the guys on the offensive side of the ball to know the terminology, to understand the philosophy, and be able to execute the offense. That’s the biggest thing, and for special teams as well. We have a new special teams coach, and he’s got some new terminology. He has to evaluate the players, so I want to get that out of this. Defensively, I want to get to the point where our guys defensively operate more efficiently as a unit.”
The Chiefs have had near perfect attendance at their offseason program so most of the players, particularly on offense, should have a pretty good handle on things when camp rolls around.
Unfortunately, a major competent of KC’s offense, Dwayne Bowe, has yet to sign his franchise tender.