Marvin Gentry-USA TODAY Sports

The Kansas City Chiefs have cut former Alabama CB DeQuan Menzie.

Menzie is the latest Scott Pioli-drafted Alabama CB to bite the dust. Recently, the Chiefs also traded CB Javier Arenas to the Arizona Cardinals.

The Chiefs haven’t announced the deal yet but the news comes from Menzie’s twitter account.

I wanna thank the chiefs nation for the support…..keep balling my brothers @neiko15 @t_hart2 @stuntman1429 @klewis23 @younghemi21…1

— De’Quan Menzie (@menzie24) May 14, 2013

@countryboi567 I did

— De’Quan Menzie (@menzie24) May 14, 2013

I don’t get this move at all. Then again, I didn’t understand the Arenas trade either.

The Chiefs selected Menzie in the fifth round of the 2012 NFL Draft. The guy never even played a regular season down for the team, as he was placed on IR before the season started last year.

Unless Menzie has some unresolved injury issue, I can’t understand why the Chiefs wouldn’t at least bring him to camp. As a fifth round pick, he wasn’t exactly eating into the team’s salary cap.

The Chiefs are set for starters at CB with Brandon Flowers, Dunta Robinson and Sean Smith. But what about behind those players?

Flowers and Smith are still in their primes but Robinson just turned 31 years old. The Chiefs drafted Sanders Commings but they have said they plan to play him at safety and the former Georgia Bulldog is no more or less proven at the NFL level than Menzie.

The Chiefs just signed six players that participated in their rookie minicamp on a tryout basis. I find it hard to believe that all six of those players have a better shot at making the team than Menzie.

I know that Reid and Dorsey want to get their own guys but it is hard to see the Chiefs cutting draft picks. Like I said, there might be a good reason for this but right now it doesn’t seem to me that Menzie got a fair chance in KC.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

In today’s installment, it’s the Kansas City Chiefs’ 5th round draft pick, CB/S DeQuan Menzie’s turn to be measured, weighed, and assessed under Joe Landers’ forecasting model. In so doing, we’ll operate from the assumption that the Chiefs intend to work Menzie primarily as a Safety rather than as a Cornerback (noting that CB is the position for which Menzie was best known at Bama, playing opposite Dre Kirkpatrick).

We’ll start off by looking at Landers’ peer averages and first teamer EPA percentages (bolded metrics again being the most important) for the Safety position.:

Short Shuttle: 4.25 sec; 46% of 1^st teamers scored an EPA

Long Shuttle: 11.61 sec; 23% of 1^st teamers scored an EPA

Three Cone: 7.04 sec; 46% of 1^st teamers scored an EPA

Vertical Jump: 35.82”; 46% of 1^st teamers scored an EPA

Broad Jump: 119”; 29% of 1^st teamers scored an EPA

Forty yard dash: 4.58 sec; 74% of 1^st teamers scored an EPA (70% & 69% of Safety prospects were two deepers or made roster, respectively) 

Bench Reps: 16.33; 31% of 1^st teamers scored an EPA

 
Put simply, all a Safety prospect has to do is achieve one measly EPA, in the 40 yard dash, and he’s got a pretty good shot, statistically speaking, of making first team within his first 5 years  in the league. None of the other combine metrics seem to matter at all for this position. Landers basically sums this all up in saying that for safeties, “it’s all about fit.” 

So how did the Quan’s performance stand up against his peers?

DeQuan Menzie’s (5’11″, 202 lbs) Combine (*Pro Day) Metrics:

*Short Shuttle: 4.25 sec

*Long Shuttle: 12.05 sec

*Three Cone: 6.93sec; EPA

Vertical Jump: 33”

Broad Jump: 116”

Forty yard dash: 4.67 sec

Bench Reps: Did not participate

Oops.

You see, while Menzie did score one EPA, it unfortunately was not the right one. And if we are to put any stock in Joe Landers research, the forecast for DeQuan Menzie is that he will face an uphill battle, statistically speaking, to even make roster over the next few seasons.

Ouch.

All considered, I am not too sure I want to give DeQuan Menzie the responsibility of covering slot receivers and tight ends, or lunging at running backs for that matter, if he doesn’t have the speed to finish the play.  At the same time, Menzie’s rep is that of guy that can lay on a pretty good hit so there may be a spot for him as a 4th safety and on special teams.

That’s my Double Take.

What’s your take Addicts? Do you feel that Menzie will beat the odds, perhaps even start for the Chiefs someday? Perhaps a better question is, is he an upgrade over Shabby Piscatelli? Taking this further still, do you feel that DeQuan Menzie should be considered an exception to Landers’ predictive model and if so, why? Please put your responses in essay form, 500 words or less. You have 30 minutes. Begin now.