OTA #11 Report

From the Truman Sports Complex

The constant evaluation process continued for the Chiefs on Tuesday with OTA practice No. 11.

Going into the session, head coach Todd Haley was interested in seeing whether his offense, particularly the passing game, could bounce back from a bad day on Monday. And he was interested in finding out whether his defense could come back with another strong effort like the day before.

Both questions got answered in the affirmative during the 90-minute session that went down indoors after the practice facility was hit with heavy rain and wind Tuesday morning.

“I was interested to see how both sides would respond,” Haley said. “The offense showed some signs of life and bounced back and the defense was able to build on what they did yesterday. It was a good day.”

QB Matt Cassel threw the ball much better in this practice. After completing 50 percent of his throws on Monday, Cassel hit 16 of 21 in the 7-on-7 drill and teamwork. He ran into some problems in the two-minute drill, when he hit just one of four throws.

“There’s a lot of different stuff going on out there,” Cassel said. “The defense is putting in new schemes and we are trying new stuff. Yesterday the defense had a better day than we did and today, we just came out and we executed better.”

The defense stepped up big in the two-minute drill as Cassel and Tyler Palko each got a series. Cassel’s throw into the end zone on a fourth down play ended the first attempt and then Palko’s second throw was picked off by CB Mike Richardson, ending the drill.

Earlier in the workout, Cassel and rookie WR Dexter McCluster connected on a long pass down the middle of the field. McCluster made a nice catch over his head on what was a nice throw by Cassel that dropped right in between coverage from CB Javier Arenas, S Eric Berry and S Kendrick Lewis.

“Dexter has done a great job so far,” said Cassel. “He’s come in and worked hard. He’s obviously an exceptional athlete, with wonderful physical characteristics that we like. He had a lot of success in college and hopefully there’s a transition for us this year.”

Observations from the workout:

• There were 86 players on the field, as S DaJuan Morgan returned after missing Monday’s work to take care of personal business. Again only unsigned restricted free agent S Jarrad Page was missing.
• QB Brodie Croyle continues to be an observer with that injured right index finger, but again he did some light tossing on the sidelines so it appears that he’s working his way back.
• The same cast of players watched the workout while rehabbing: RB Jamaal Charles, CB Brandon Flowers, TE Brad Cottam, WR Quinten Lawrence and WR Lance Long. WR David Grimes got back into the practice work, coming off his hamstring injury.
• ILBs Derrick Johnson and Jovan Belcher along with S Kendrick Lewis continued to work with the No. 1 defense.
• The Chiefs offense spent a lot of their snaps in a one-back, three wide receiver alignment, with McCluster working the slot. It seemed like some 60 to 70 percent of the plays came out of that set.
• The No. 2 offensive line on Tuesday was LT Barry Richardson, RB Ikechuku Ndukwe, C Casey Wiegmann, RG Jon Asamoah and RT Colin Brown.
• There was a lot of defensive line shuffling throughout the practice and Shaun Smith got some time with the first unit at nose tackle.
• With two practices each on Friday and Saturday in this weekend’s mini-camp, Haley has cut back on some of the running the team does in hopes of having some fresher legs for the two-a-day sessions.
• OLB Mike Vrabel works at OLB on the first nickel defense and is now working at inside linebacker on the second nickel, replacing Corey Mays.
• Berry had a shot at an interception on a deep throw from Cassel to WR Dwayne Bowe but his arms weren’t long enough.
• Bowe had a good day and certainly tormented CB Maurice Leggett who he beat on several plays, including one TD throw.
• WR Chris Chambers made a very nice catch in the corner of the end zone on one play and came back and dropped a throw on the next play.
• RB Kolby Smith made a very nice one-handed catch in the red zone.