A Few Videos On Laurent Duvernay-Tardif [Video]
By Ben Nielsen
BWrangler threw out a video in the comments of the “Wearing the Coaches Out” post about Laurent Duvernay-Tardif that I thought many of you would enjoy. It is a short video of Mike Mayock talking about Tardif’s draft stock heading into the draft.
There is something to be said about what the Chiefs did in the sixth round, potentially the most critical round of the draft for them when we look back five years from now. LDT appears to be a guy with a great deal of talent and the will to be successful at his craft. Should the Chiefs walk away from the draft – a draft in which they only had six picks – and find themselves with two starting offensive linemen, a starting outside linebacker, and a starting cornerback then one has to consider this draft to be one of the better ones in Chiefs history.
So far in rookie minicamp Tardif has seen action both at tackle and at guard. What this means if full would only be speculation on my part. And while I know this is a blog, I do not have a good guess as to what the plans are for Tardif in the short and long term. What do know, and am willing to speculate, is that the Chiefs have a talent in Tardif with a strong ceiling as a tackle. Walking away in the sixth round with two starting linemen would be tremendous for the Chiefs.*
You’ll be surprised to learn I am not a scout. I know, I’m shocked, too. What I can tell you is that everything I’ve read and heard about Duvernay-Tardif only leads me to believe the Chiefs got an absolute steal. He’s a guy with every measurable you want, every physical skill you want, the intelligence, the desire, all of the raw things you need, as I would see it, to build an excellent lineman. The fact the man has practiced only once or twice per week and looks as good as he does on the field is remarkable. A year with the Chiefs coaching staff and it is hard not to be giddy about his future.
Then again, I get giddy about a lot of things that are Chiefs related, so don’t get too worked up. With that said, I’m not the only one who seems to think LDT can be a very good football player for the Chiefs in the near future.
Here are a couple more interesting videos I’ve found on LDT.
*I know I’ve typed that sentence about 23,472 times (slight exaggeration) but it is something that must be kept in mind when evaluating this draft class. Typically you’re hoping to find a contributor or role player in rounds six and seven. Finding starters is an absolute coup.