Chiefs Work Out Former Basketball Player
Eric P. Mull-USPRESSWIRE
The Kansas City Chiefs are turning over every stone they can find looking for potential players ahead of the 2013 NFL Draft.
According to Bob McGinn of the Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel, the Chiefs, along with a number of other NFL teams, are interested in former basketball star Demetrius Harris.
"Shortly after the Panthers’ 8-24 season, the Kansas City Chiefs called Jeter inquiring about Harris’ interest in football.John Dorsey, the Chiefs’ new general manager, was scouting for the Green Bay Packers two years ago when someone at an all-star game in Little Rock, Ark., told him to make a note about an all-state football player from Jacksonville, Ark., who was playing basketball up north.“I put him on my Franklin day calendar to explore this guy two years down the road,” said Dorsey, who resigned Jan. 12 as the Packers’ director of football operations. “That’s what I did, and there he is.”Chiefs area scout Ryan Kessenich, a Madison native and 2006 graduate of UWM, put Harris through his paces April 5 on campus at Engelmann Field, the Panthers’ soccer stadium, and the Klotsche Center.According to the Chiefs, Harris ran 40 yards in 4.52 seconds to go with a vertical jump of 36½ inches and a broad jump of 10-2."
Harris has played football before, just not in college. He was a wide receiver on his high school football team.
Harris wouldn’t be the first former basketball player to make it as a TE in the NFL. San Diego Chargers TE and future Hall of Famer, Antonio Gates, played only basketball at Kent State. Jimmy Graham of the New Orleans Saints also played basketball.
Right now Harris is just trying to get some team to take a chance on him with a late-round pick. Based on his skill set, however, he will almost certainly get a chance to go to camp with a team.
The Chiefs brought Harris in for a visit last Thursday and Friday.
What do you think, Addicts? Should the Chiefs use a late-round pick on a raw prospect like Harris?