Daurice Fountain takes advantage of reps for Chiefs vs. 49ers

When it comes to the competition forming at wide receiver for the precious few roster spots available on the K.C. Chiefs roster, Daurice Fountain is often an overlooked name. After Saturday’s performance against the San Francisco 49ers, he’s definitely earned more notice going forward.

In the Chiefs opening preseason win over the Niners, Fountain was able to lead all receivers in yards with four catches on six targets for 38 yards. While the totals aren’t impressive themselves and the sample size is small, it’s important to note that everyone was playing limited reps as the coaches tried to give playing time to the bulk of a bloated 90-man roster.

Fountain is never mentioned in conjunction with the competition for spots immediately below Tyreek Hill—that conversation is saved for the likes of Byron Pringle, Mecole Hardman, Demarcus Robinson—but he’s also typically left out of the fringe roster spots. The most-discussed candidates there are others like Cornell Powell, Marcus Kemp, Antonio Callaway, Chad Williams and more.

Daurice Fountain speaks to reporters after strong night for Chiefs.

Coming into the night, then, Fountain said after the game that he knew he had to take full advantage of any opportunities that came his way.

“I just really went into the game today saying, ‘I’ve gotta take advantage of my reps.’ Coach Reid, Joe, and everybody else, they’ve been doing a good job of helping me prepare for each preseason game, just to get an opportunity to go out and showcase my skills.”

Among a position group largely blessed with loads of speed, Fountain says his goal is to be an ideal tandem with others and provide the sort of reliable physical option for Patrick Mahomes. He certainly has the size at 6’2, 210 lbs.

“I just try to be able to bring a physical presence. A lot of those guys… it’s a track team in that room as you can see. [Laughs] I just try to bring that physical presence and just try to play my game. Wherever it may be, anything they want me to do, I just want to bring that to the receiving corps.”

No matter what happens going forward, Fountain has definitely elevated his stock with the Chiefs this preseason and says he’s grateful for the opportunity to be with a team like the Chiefs at all.

“It’s really special. The Chiefs have always been an elite team in the league, so when they gave me the opportunity, I was grateful. I just had to thank God, because obviously you can see this receiver core is stacked. So coming in off the rookie minicamp tryout and all that stuff, I was like, ‘Man, this is all a blessing revealing itself to me.’ It was real special.”