If you missed the Morning Fix today then you may missed that the National Football Post is reporting that the Kansas City Chiefs have a private workout scheduled with North Carolina LB Quan Sturdivant.
Sturdivant is an interesting prospect for the Chiefs because he is an ILB. While OLB is certainly a bigger priority for the Chiefs, they may see ILB as a need as well.
Jovan Belcher did a nice job last year and he is developing nicely for a guy who wasn’t even drafted. Remember that Belcher played DE at Main and in two years earned himself a starting MLB spot int he NFL. While that is impressive, it remains to be seen whether or not Belcher has reached his ceiling. He is steady, disciplined, strong and a very sure tackler but he is terrible in coverage and hasn’t shown the same type of big play ability that his mate Derrick Johnson exhibits.
If the Chiefs feel that Belcher has reached his full potential, they might jump at the chance to upgrade with a guy like Sturdivant.
More about Sturdivant and his potential, after the jump.
According to NFL Draft Scout, Sturdivant is the second best ILB in the draft and they are projecting him to be taken somewhere in the 2nd or 3rd rounds.
Sturdivant is listed at 6-1, 241. He had a monster sophomore season at North Carolina, recording 122 tackles, two sacks, two picks and a forced fumble. Last year, Sturdivant missed five games with a hamstring injury but still recorded 61 tackles with 8.5 for a loss. His last play in college he intercepted a Tennessee pass int he second OT of the Music City Bowl.
The thing that stuck out to me in the scouting reports I read on Sturdivant were his athleticism and coverage ability. The scouts seem to think he has the speed to stick to tight ends and that he excels in zone coverage, reading QB’s well.
The knocks on him are that he needs to work on his tackling a bit, often going to high an dnot driving through the ball carrier. He wasn’t asked to rush the passer a lot and needs to work on his pass rushing moves, particularly if he is going to play OLB in a 4-3 defense. If the Chiefs were to take him, his pass rushing skills from the middle wouldn’t be as important as they are more than likely to prefer sending the athletic Derrick Johnson anyway.
It looks to me that Sturdivant could be the perfect compliment to Jovan Belcher. Belecher excels in tackling and playing the run while a guy like Sturdivant might have strengths in coverage situations. The Chiefs have shown they don’t mind running platoons. They successfully held down the DE position opposite Glenn Dorsey with a combination of Shaun Smith, Wallace Gilberry and Tyson Jackson.
Depending on what is available when the Chiefs hit the podium in rounds 2 and 3, Sturdivant could be an unexpected and shrewd pickup by Pioli in the mold of the move to take TE Tony Moeaki.
What do you think Addicts? Should the Chiefs use an early pick on the ILB position or should they stick with Belcher and add help at other positions?