Dave Toub is excited by Chiefs addition of Antonio Hamilton

Dave Toub was excited by the offseason addition of cornerback Antonio Hamilton to the Kansas City Chiefs roster for his special teams ability.

The Kansas City Chiefs failed to move the meter on a national level concerning media with any of their moves in the early stages of free agency. While other teams were signing big-name players left and right to multi-year contracts, the Chiefs were quietly retaining their own players after a Super Bowl run. In terms of any new additions, the Chiefs decided to add a couple under-the-radar players that the casual fan would need Wikipedia to find.

Antonio Hamilton was one such signing for the Chiefs, a young cornerback whose presence is largely felt on special teams rather than any defensive snaps. The former rookie free agent signed with New York after going undrafted out of South Carolina State and made the most of every opportunity in four seasons with the team. Slowly he climbed the depth chart—for multiple coaches by the way—from playing 4 games in his rookie season to appearing in all 16 and even making two starts last year.

The Chiefs might employ Hamilton on defense if they like his potential there, but special teams coach Dave Toub couldn’t contain his excitement when answering questions from reporters on Tuesday.

"“Antonio, he’s a special guy,” said Toub. “He’s a guy that obviously can play gunner and those are valuable players. He’s a productive gunner, so we’ll pencil him in right now to be a four-phase starter. We haven’t even had a meeting yet—we will Thursday—and he’ll find out about that, he is going to be a four-phase starter. But he’s going to hit the ground running for us. He’s a guy who can come in and make plays. You’ve seen him do with the Giants. I think we’re really fortunate to have him.”"

Earlier this offseason, we asked Ed Valentine, a writer covering the Giants at Big Blue View, about Hamilton’s potential and he spoke highly of his special teams expertise. Valentine said, “He’s an outstanding gunner on special teams. A real difference-maker in the field position game.”

Hamilton, who is 27, appeared in 81 percent of the Giants special teams snaps and 12 percent of total defensive snaps last year.