I feel like this one is flying under the radar. It was for me, anyways.

Watched his clips with fresh eyes, and... holy shit, man. His strength and speed combo is absurd. The way he just mows through guys to get to his destination is crazy impressive. He collapses pockets.

A 3rd & long with Karloftis, Jones, ONL, and Gillotte all rushing could be a death sentence. And with a fresh Omenihu, FAU and Danna rotating in, we should have no problems generating pass rush this year.

Yeah - I had him as a late 3rd sort of player as well. He went about a round earlier than I expected, but I absolutely wanted him here in KC and thought he was an excellent fit.

And when you're in the draft room and you want the guy and would be more annoyed by losing him than you would be relieved taking someone else and sliding down a round, go ahead and grab him.

It's why I have a hard time with a direct comparison of my draft to Veach's because I am positive I'd have taken Royals before he did. Sitting there at the early 3rd and DEFINITELY in the late 3rd I'd have thought "Man, I'll be pretty pissed off at myself if he gets sniped before I scoop him up..."

So if I'd have taken Simmons in the 1st, I'd have absolutely gone with ONL and then Royals with the next 2 picks, tried to get Gillotte with the late 3rd and then lost out on Williams.

But who the hell knows how that all could've/would've worked out?

Yeah, I was a little late to the party on him but last week I said I'd have him over the rest of the guys people had in this T2 for DEs.

Precisely because of the explosion/power and how he uses that speed to generate power. He just looked sooooooo Spagsy. He does what Omenihu does from the edge -- nothing flashy but uses his athleticism to get push.

I had him in my head at 6'3" and thought "well the length is solid" so I never scratched him off. Looks like he's a litle shorter than I realized so I never dinged him with it while I was watching clips. Because he doesn't PLAY short.

I'm just not even a little surprised by the pick and see exactly what it is the Chiefs saw in him.

The biggest thing, in my mind, is that he's a football player. He's not a workout warrior or someone who "does" football. The kid seems to love the game and plays all-out. You can't coach that and I think it'll serve him/us well.

After first seeing a little more toolsy Danna, I think he might be Nick Bolton on the edge.

I mean if he'd have gone to Wisconsin and the Badgers used him the way they used Chenal, would it surprise anyone if that's the sort of player he ended up becoming?

I mean most any school is likely going to eventually put his hand in the dirt because he's just friggen yoked and has that broad frame. But Wisconsin had Leo's hand in the dirt a bunch as well.

Guy just plays like a hammer looking for a nail. I wouldn't necessarily say he's relentless, he's just really damn aggressive.

I can just about guarantee this was the guy Spags pounded the table for from day one if this spot in the draft came up for edge.

I'm serious.

I was struggling to find a comp I liked, but as I watch these packages again with Chenal in mind - I'll be damned if he doesn't remind me a lot of him.

Wouldn't have made that connection if we hadn't seen so much Chenal, but he plays a lot of the time from a 2-point stance off the edge. And then they'll move him down into the 3-tech and have him go from a 4-point stance to try to just launch out and gap shoot.

It looks a LOT like what the Badgers did with those interior blitzes with Chenal. And no, I wouldn't want him playing LB at the NFL level, but look at how he plays the run. There are a lot of times when he sure as hell looks like a LB there -- he gets upright, stays square and then reads/reacts. That looks more like a 3-4 OLB than a true 5-tech.

It's way the hell out of left field, but his college tape shows a lot of what has made Chenal so versatile. Now I'm fascinated by the idea of a Sam conversion with the kid. He'd have to cut 20 lbs and frankly it would be pretty silly (if you want a Sam, draft a Sam) but he just has some very interesting moments that sure look like an oversized Sam and so many of those same traits that Chenal has that have made him such a useful chess piece for Spags.

LFG!!!!!

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Ashton Gillotte has left a major legacy on the field for the Cardinals, but the legacy he’s leaving off of it may be even better. <br><br>I spoke with Gillotte about how he’s giving back most of his NIL earnings to charities in Louisville: <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GoCards?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GoCards</a> x <a href="https://twitter.com/WHAS11?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@WHAS11</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/AshtonGillotte?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AshtonGillotte</a> <a href="https://t.co/3CsUDzbMil">pic.twitter.com/3CsUDzbMil</a></p>&mdash; Mason Horodyski (@MasonHorodyski) <a href="https://twitter.com/MasonHorodyski/status/1869880450342166811?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 19, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

My comp is stupid, so I'll preface with that.

But the way he throws dudes out of the way in some of these, it's almost Aaron Donald-like. Clearly not the same position and certainly nowhere near the degree of dominance that Donald played with...

But the power/speed combo is just super impressive - specifically in the 2023 highlights from above.

I don't know about that....but he's good.

Just watch him play. He just seems to have the "I'll just make plays" type vibe.

The violence he plays with reminds me of Trey Hendrickson, FWIW.

Takes a special dude to have that kind of perspective at that age. At any age, for that matter. Just became one of my favorite Chiefs.

Karlaftis is an inch taller, but their weight is the same. Not sure why everyone is saying he's so small.

Dude is going to rotate in and make it very hard for offensive line calls.

That surprised me, because I was thinking he was pretty short in stature.

I just went back and watched some clips, and I think I know why some of us (or I, anyways) are thinking that...

It's because his stance is low on the line, and then he runs while bent forward a lot. Then after a play wraps, he stands up straight, and he's actually the same height as the rest of the dudes.

It's the arm length, IMO.

And I'll preface this by again saying that I love the player and very much wanted us to take him before the draft.

That said, his biggest asset is converting speed to power, IMO. And that IS a little more difficult when you have shorter arms because it's harder to get inside the OLs pads. What really makes that effective is if you can land a punch, rock 'em a little bit and then drive them backwards and/or dip/rip through them.

I don't think the arm length is the sort of thing that will cost him being a productive NFL player, but it MIGHT make things a little more complicated for him or maybe make him someone more adept at crushing the pocket than actually finishing sacks (a little like GK in that regard, though for different reasons).

I like him, but if you wanna know why he fell further than his production and athleticism says he should've, that's why. It's not pure height - it's reach. The height is a little on the shorter side but not brutal; 5'3"ish absolutely works. It's having arms under 32 inches that is a bit disconcerting.

I mean there's a non-zero chance that he ends up a guy like Josh Paschal who can create some pressure and havoc, but isn't gonna go out there and get 8-10 sacks/season.