Kansas City Chiefs: Early position impressions from training camp
The Safeties
* Eric Berry seems to be on limited reps right now. He looks good, but don’t be surprised if you don’t see much from him in the preseason games.
* It looks like with Ron Parker gone KC may use their safeties more interchangeably. When Berry and Sorensen were on the field together they both lined up in the box at times and back as a center fielder at others. I don’t know if either Berry or Sorensen would be my first choice to play back as a center fielder type, but given the lack of a stand out back there it may be what we get this season.
* When Eric Murray rotated in with the first team either as a third safety or in place of either Berry or Sorensen he typically played the back spot. Murray didn’t do a lot to either excite me or discourage me the days I was there and is a player I’ll continue to watch close in the preseason.
* Armani Watts didn’t practice on Friday but did on Saturday. On Saturday he was clearly running behind Murray and even appeared to be behind Leon McQuay (who we’ll discuss in a moment). Watts looks pretty natural in coverage but he’s even smaller than I expected. Honestly he looks WAY more like a nickel back than a safety. That doesn’t mean he can’t play the back center field safety spot in the NFL, but he would definitely be one of the smaller safeties around. He is definitely not any bigger than his listed size of 5-foot-11 and 205 pounds. Eric Murray is listed as about the same size but looked slightly bigger to me.
* Leon McQuay on the other hand very much looks the part of an NFL safety. I don’t remember McQuay standing out in camp or the preseason at all last year but I thought he looked good the days I was in camp. I haven’t heard any other buzz from people on McQuay but what I saw in camp bumped him up my watch list for the preseason. Out of the trio of Murray, Watts, and McQuay it’s McQuay that physically looks like the guy you’d want starting on your NFL team at safety.
* The other two safeties that had a few nice plays when I was at camp were Robert Golden and Jordan Sterns.
* I think Sorensen is a lock for regular playing time (sorry, I know that upsets a few of you). I think Murray is the front runner behind him but I think there is a pretty good battle going on there with Watts, McQuay, Golden, and maybe even Sterns competing for a spot and possibly playing time. Safety is definitely one of the top positions I’ll be watching in the preseason.
So there you have it Chiefs fans, my complete thoughts on this team after spending a couple of days at training camp. Are you surprised by anything? Have you been to camp and seen anything that conflicts with my observations? What players are you going to watch closely in the first preseason game? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
As alwasy, thanks for reading and GO CHIEFS!!!!!