Leon McQuay discusses his draft moment and musical interests
By Matt Conner
We recently spoke to Leon McQuay III, the Chiefs sixth round choice, about the moment he was drafted and his musical interests.
“I was super surprised to hear from them.”
Leon McQuay III was waiting to hear from someone. He just wasn’t sure who was on the other end of the line when his phone went off. It was well into the later rounds of draft weekend, which means the senior from the University of Southern California had already been waiting for some time. Then came the mysterious call that gave no indication who it was or even where they were from.
“I was just sitting in front of the TV by myself,” says McQuay. “I was watching another TV on my own aside from my family and stuff and suddenly I get this call. The number is just all zeroes. It just says “unknown.” I was like, “What the heck is this?” So I answered it, and it’s the Chiefs. I don’t remember who it was, but someone said said, ‘Hi, I’m with the Kansas City Chiefs. We’re going to take you with the next pick.’ I was like, ‘What?!’ It was crazy. I was surprised and just trying to figure out what was going on.”
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McQuay says he figured his target would be “around the sixth or seventh round,” but no player knows for sure and the wait can get long. An entire pre-draft season that lasted for months was finally coming to an end, the end result of endless interviews, medical checks, personal drills, workouts, visits and references. Given the amount of communication from other teams, McQuay says he never expected to hear from the Chiefs.
“I had a couple interviews with the Chiefs at the [East-West] Shrine Game, but other than that, we never really talked much. We might have talked at our pro day, but other than that, it wasn’t much at all,” he says.
McQuay also admits that because the Chiefs didn’t seem all that interested before the draft, he also didn’t put in that much time learning about the team. “I hadn’t heard much from them so I hadn’t researched them much. Also, growing up in Florida, you don’t really see the Chiefs too much,” he explains.
On draft day, Chiefs scouts helped to explain the pick of McQuay, praising his athleticism, length and intelligence and the fact that the Chiefs can employ him all over the secondary. For a team that played nearly half its defensive snaps in a dime formation last season, McQuay is a great fit for the Chiefs as both a slot corner and hybrid safety who can play single high or down in the box.
Playing alongside Pro Bowlers like Marcus Peters and Eric Berry are also going to help McQuay make the adjustment to the pros as he’s able to learn from such talented players around him. “I’m excited to get to learn from them,” he says.
Not only is McQuay a strong team player on the field, but he says he’s open to some collaboration off the field, particularly with pass rusher Tamba Hali, as both men are busy making music on the side when they’re done with football for the day.”Mostly I do a lot of production and engineering,” says McQuay. If you don’t know what those things are, production is making the beats and stuff and working with an artist to try to get the best product. Engineering is recording, like if an artist wanted to record something over an instrumental.”
When asked about potentially working with Hali on a track or two, McQuay just laughs.
“I’m definitely open to it.”