Kansas City Chiefs: Five undrafted players to watch this week
Chase Litton – QB – #8
Going into training camp the biggest question surrounding Kansas City’s back up quarterbacks was if undrafted rookie Chase Litton could show enough promise to make him worth keeping over the more experienced veteran Matt McGloin. If you read my observations from training camp post last week you know my personal answer there is 100% yes. However, I think Litton has looked good enough that you can make an argument that he is just flat out better than McGloin, not only from an upside outlook but in terms of where they are right now. McGloin is entering this first preseason game as the third QB, but in practice Litton has frequently been getting third team reps ahead of him.
We already knew going into camp that Litton had the prototypical NFL QB size and arm that teams covet. The question was if Litton could show the accuracy and decision making needed to actually make something out of his natural gifts. It’s still early, but there may not be a player I am more excited to watch in the fourth quarter this week than Chase Litton.
What to watch for:
* Composure. Does the game look too fast for him? Does he panic under the lights? Can he get the plays called and out of the huddle smoothly?
* Reading what the defense give him. Yes, Litton has a live arm, but I don’t need him to be Patrick Mahomes out there yet. Litton needs to show he can read an NFL defense and get the ball to the right guy.
* Quick Release. One thing that jumped out to me at camp was how quick Litton got the ball out on slants and routes over the middle. Often times rookie quarterbacks will wait a second too long to get the ball out and miss the window where a player was actually open. If Litton can do what I saw in practice here in a live game I will be ready to officially move him ahead of McGloin for good.
Next up, the undrafted cornerback that’s been turning heads all offseason.