Leftovers From Chiefs Mini-Camp

From the Truman Sports Complex

So much information stacked up in the notebook after five practices in three days at the Chiefs mini-camp.

Given that the Chiefs veterans and coaches are about to drop off the face of the football earth for six weeks, it seems a good time for an information dump. We’ll be holding back some of the stuff for those weeks ahead where football takes its summer vacation.

BIG SHAUN SMITH BRINGS PERSONALITY TO THE ROSTER

So far veteran NT Shaun Smith has not been very impressive on the practice field. Since the OTA and mini-camp practices have had no football contact, he hasn’t been able to show his physicality.

He began the off-season as the No. 2 nose, but he’s fallen to No. 3 right now, as Derek Lokey has surprised everyone by jumping to the first team.

But the one thing the six-year veteran has brought to the team is a bit of personality. Smith loves to talk, he loves to verbally jab and chatter with his teammates, and sometimes he lacks a governor that filters his thoughts from his tongue.

“He’s an interesting character – a little different than a lot of guys that we have around here,” head coach Todd Haley said of Smith. Haley got a chance to see Smith early in his career when they were both with the Cowboys. “He’ll say what he thinks most of the time. He livens things up to say the least.”

That was certainly the case in Cleveland, where in December 2008 Smith finished an argument with QB Brady Quinn in the Browns weight room by punching him in the nose.

HALEY GETTING COACHING HELP IN THE LOCKER ROOM

The head coach can’t stop talking about the influence some of his veterans are having on some of his younger players. Guys like OLB Mike Vrabel and RB Thomas Jones have been spending a lot of time with younger guys on the roster.

“You see that kind of stuff happening, where they are working and talking all the time not just out on the field; you can catch them walking through the locker room they are talking about something,” said Haley. “That means teaching is going on and older guys are trying to get younger guys that may even be their replacement potentially, they could beat them out and they are still working with them. That is when you know you’ve got a chance to be a team and a team that can continually develop.”

SO WHAT’S THE FUTURE FOR DAJUAN MORGAN?

The Chiefs 2008 draft class was going to be the foundation of the rebuilding job under Herm Edwards.

Some of those draft picks have gotten on the field under both Edwards and last year under Haley and have developed into contributing players: DE Glenn Dorsey, LT Branden Albert, CB Brandon Flowers, RB Jamaal Charles and CB Brandon Carr. TE Brad Cottam is recovering from a neck injury. OT Barry Richardson is getting snaps at both left and right tackle spots.

And the only other one left among the dozen choices is S DaJuan Morgan.

After watching mini-camp, the safeties appear to line up in this order: Eric Berry, Kendrick Lewis, Jon McGraw, Reshard Langford and then either Morgan or Donald Washington. The Chiefs will keep four, maybe five safeties on the final roster.

Morgan has some work to do.

“He is now in his third year, a critical, critical year in any player’s development,” Haley said of Morgan. “You have to remember DaJuan was not only a junior coming out (of North Carolina State) but a young junior (he was 22 when he was drafted.) It doesn’t happen overnight. He is at that third-year juncture where I think you will continue to see the arrow point up, it will flatten out or it will start down.

“He is working hard and he is putting a lot into it and investing in himself and us and that is all we are asking right now, so we will see.”

CHIEFS ARE BUILDING ON THEIR 1-0 RECORD IN 2010

When the Chiefs won the last game of the 2009 season against the Broncos in Denver, RB Jamaal Charles said then it was the team’s goal to start the 2010 season with a victory.

“We are already 1-0 in 2010,” Charles said that afternoon, after rushing for 259 yards on 25 carries in the Chiefs 20-point victory.

Six months later, that same refrain can still be heard around the Chiefs locker room. The 44-24 decision over Denver was just one happy Sunday in a long season of losing, so obviously it would be memorable.

But the Chiefs indicate they really believe the victory has provided them with momentum into the offseason that they are about to finish up.

“I still believe that, we are 1-0,” said Charles.

Said veteran safety Jon McGraw: “It took the edge off the end of the season. It gave us all something good to think about, and there’s nothing but good that can come from that.”

Added punter Dustin Colquitt: “I think it changed the atmosphere to one where we have been able to focus on what could be and not what was most of last year.”

Haley said there’s no question the outcome of that final game established a fresh start for this season.

“When you can finish in a positive fashion, it does nothing but help you,” Haley said. “It has been proven over time that you can finish poorly and still have a great year the next year. It is not an absolute. For us every bit of last year will be part of what we become, for anyone that is here and continues to be here. I am grateful for everything about last year and for these guys to be able to see, feel what it was like to walk off a division rival’s field with a real big win can do nothing but help. I know a lot of these guys have used that as a little spring board into this off-season.”