Covitz: Eric Fisher still not cleared for full practice sessions
 

Chiefs’ tackle Eric Fisher still not cleared for full practice sessions
By RANDY COVITZ
The Kansas City Star

Chiefs tackle Eric Fisher’s move from the right side of the line to the all-important left side had to wait another day.

Fisher, who is coming back from offseason shoulder surgery, participated in the first day of the Chiefs’ OTA session on Tuesday but has not been cleared to participate in 11-on-11 team practices.

Donald Stephenson, tabbed to start at right tackle — where Fisher started for most of his rookie year in 2013 — took over the left tackle spot Tuesday. For now, it’s Stephenson who’ll be protecting the quarterback’s blind side, the position vacated when longtime starter Branden Albert left Kansas City as a free agent.

That wasn’t the only change in the first-team offensive line. Rishaw Johnson, who started the regular-season finale at San Diego at right guard last year, was in that spot, a position vacated by Geoff Schwartz and Jon Asamoah. Free-agent signee Jeff Linkenbach was at right tackle.

Only center Rodney Hudson and left guard Jeff Allen were in their same positions as a year ago.

“There are new faces and you have to get them caught up and get them in the mix,” said quarterback Alex Smith. “That’s everybody in the NFL. There is turnover year to year.

“This time of year, because we’re just in helmets, for those guys (on the line), it’s a time to work on assignments, technique … they don’t get to practice the physical part of the game. It’s a different aspect of it for us on the edge … at the skill positions, we can make a little more happen.”

Hurry up offense

It was just the first day of the OTAs, but the Chiefs were already working on their no-huddle offense.

“It’s something we’ve had in the package for a long time,” quarterback Alex Smith said. “I don’t know if (coach Andy Reid) is doing it from an execution or from a conditioning aspect. It’s good work for us out in the heat. These were great conditions to practice in. It makes the environment tough.”

New faces, old places

Free-agent signee Joe Mays took the place of Akeem Jordan at inside linebacker in the base defense; backup Frank Zombo, not first-round draft choice Dee Ford, played in the outside linebacker spot of Justin Houston, who did not report; second-year man Marcus Cooper started at left cornerback in place of Brandon Flowers, who did not report; and veteran Husain Abdullah was in the free safety spot vacated by Kendrick Lewis.

When the Chiefs went to their nickel and dime packages, second-year man Sanders Commings was the third safety; and free agent Chris Owens joined Cooper and Sean Smith as an extra cornerback.

“This league is about change,” Pro Bowl linebacker Derrick Johnson said of having a new partner on the inside. “I’m going into my 10th year, and I’ve probably had 10 mike-backers next to me, so it’s one of those things where the organization always gets a reliable mike-backer and Joe Mays is another guy that’s very smart.

“He’s been in the league. He’s a big thumper. We’re working good together right now.”

Plays of the day

In 11-on-11 work, Alex Smith connected on a deep corner route with tight end Anthony Fasano.

Owens made a nice interception of a pass by second-team quarterback Chase Daniel. Commings intercepted a bad throw by second-year quarterback Tyler Bray. Bray came back and hit tight end Richard Jordan for a nice gain down the middle.

Injury report

Tight end Travis Kelce, who missed all of last season with a knee injury, was on the practice field but could not participate. Nose tackle Risean Broussard (knee) and wide receiver Kyle Williams (knee) were also out.

****ing pussy.

Get that dude some Flintstones vitamins or something.

He needs to man up fast.

Eric "Made of Glass" Fisher

We need to bring in Incognito to toughen the pussy up.

safe pick

Hasnt been able to get any stronger in his torso all offseason and still cant fully practice... yay.

Though I would like to see Fisher and Kelce out there, I don't think its a big deal. The Chiefs will be careful with these guys and I'm sure they'll be ready training camp.

The flow is heavy in here.

What a ****ing waste of a pick.

It should be. He was one of the worst #1 picks in recent memory. That's not sour grapes, that's reality.

If Fisher would have been selected before the salary slotting system, he very well might end up in Justfat Russell territory.

The fact that we picked a marginal RT as a #1 overall does that to people. FYI

You guys are good for a laugh every single morning during the off season.

I don't know how some of you make it through a week without a mental breakdown over running out of vagasil.

I hate the fact that Dorsey was a pussy and had to go with the safe pick.

If Fisher would quit taking it all, I wouldn't run out.

Dude, don't be a douche.

Fisher was a bad pick. You can't say otherwise unless you're just a complete ****ing homer.

Question answered

OK, it has been written in stone obviously. No way Fisher could have a good year at LT, not possible.

We should cut him now.

Nobody ****ing said that.

You wanna talk about bleeding vaginas, look in the mirror.

Really? Don't be stupid

What?

As of RIGHT NOW, he was one of the worst picks in recent memory.

That says NOTHING about the future.

Jesus Christ you're a baby.

No not really, I was making fun of the sandy vaginas here.

ROFL

You're like a teenage girl.

LMAO, as of day 2 of OTA's in season 2 he is one of the worst #1 picks of all time.

You are so dense you dont even understand how ****ing reeruned that sounds.

Then to call me the crybaby? LMAO

You are a riot dude.

RECENT MEMORY. RECENT MEMORY. RECENT MEMORY.

You are the biggest ****ing lemming here. No question.

You can't even keep the argument on track. You have to twist people's words to make it stick.

http://i758.photobucket.com/albums/x...r/Cry-Baby.gif

:facepalm:

I'm the one laughing at the crybaby's. You are a master of spin though.

How is it you have figured out a way to bitch incessantly about everything while figuring out a way to back out of all of it by claiming it could all change down the road?

He's not Brian Jozwiak bad, but BJ was taken 6 picks later in round 1............

You are a moron.

Why would anyone waste time to explain simple concepts to you?

There is nothing wrong with stating that it's a possibility that Fisher will be a bust.

Saying we want him cut now because he is a 100% bust is your creation.

there's one poster on this board that shows up every day with tears in her eyes...you


i bet you have personally shed tears on Fisher's pubes

1.1

He could end up being Robert Gallery bad, but Gallery wasn't #1 and he cost the Raiders a lot more cap room.

It's OK. He'll come around. Make sure you buy tickets so you are there when he does.

LMAO

No matter how much you try to spin it, I am not the person whining.

You guys hate nothing more than being called out when you are acting like a 12 year old girl who just got dumped.

Calling you out for acting stupid is not crying on my part. But that's a nice spin.

Enjoy the meltdown I have shit to do today.

Stating, as a matter of fact, that Fisher was a bad pick is not spinning, whining, or acting stupid.

It's a statement of FACT with zero emotion.

The fact that you can't resist responding to each and every instance of said statement just further proves everybody's point.

You're trying to deflect by ascribing your own behavior to other people. It is you that's acting like a 12-year old girl. You just cannot stand criticism of your beloved Chiefs. They're your Justin Bieber.

LMAO

Right tackle with the 1.1 pick is just stupid. These glorious new coaches in our front office is a complete joke.

He probably should have committed to a tighter surgery schedule.

Or not been so big of a pussy.

In any case, his year at LT is in pretty big jeopardy. Maybe we won't have to pay Alex after all. Can't pay somebody when he's dead.

He just needs his estrogen injection and he'll be fine. Nothing to worry about. Alex will be running for his life in no time.

Fisher isn't playing RT this year dumbass.

What I find interesting is that I considered the improvement in the offense in the 2nd half of the year to be a function of improved O-line play and perhaps a change to a zbs. Now the offense line has been blown up. It's a little scary. Let's just hope Dorsey and Reid know what they are doing.

Can we at least wait until training camp to start this shit? People are being babies about Houston not being here bc it's "voluntary" but are giving a guy coming off surgery flack bc he's not practicing full on in the same said "voluntary" workouts?

If he said he was 100% healthy I doubt Reid would do anything different anyway. There's no point in risking injury in VOLUNTARY workouts to a guy who just came off surgery. That's how you end up with Sean Lee type of shit happening.

I wasn't a fan of the pick but I think Fisher will develop into a dominant LT. Usually takes up to 3 years to evaluate a pick but so far it hasn't looked good.

Agree pretty much 100%.

I think Fisher has all the tools. He needs to stay healthy.

Oh lord ****ing no, like that changes everything lol. He still ****ing sucks and it's the worst pick at 1.1 you can possibly do. Another reason why Reid and Dorsey are ****ing jokes.

The injury occurred before the end of the season.

Why didn't we just IR him and get the doctors to do both surgeries ASAP?

Instead Fisher dawdled until February/March to have the procedures done, taking away valuable offseason time to gain strength

Here's my problem.

I can see Fisher developing into a John Alt level LT.

That's pretty good, but that isn't Willie Roaf, Orlando Pace, Walter Jones, guys that would have justified the status of being the #1 overall pick.

I do think that Fisher has potential to be very good, but he likely will never be #1 overall good.

With the way Marcellus gapes on here you'd think Zed was daggering his asshole daily.

I agree that Fisher is not a number 1 overall type of talent. Neither was any other player in that lame ass draft. Chiefs had the best pick in the worst draft ever..

ha, this

The pure definition of CHIEFS LUCK. :shake:

Not an excuse for picking a vagina of a tackle at #1.

I would agree, but we know a 1/1 is not a lock and short of Roaf we haven't had a LT like Alt since and if he achieves that level than there would be no reason for me to ever question the pick again.

That is exactly the kind of draft that you take a risk.

You don't have a clear cut #1 overall, you take a guy that has big time playmaker potential, and big time bust potential.

Shoulda picked that Geno Smith guy huh?ROFL

Soft and oft-injured at 1.1.

Sounds like the Chiefs luck.

The big issue is a shoulder injury, can't strength train with it and it will make putting good weight on difficult. He needs both to have a chance.

Literally nobody saying that except the Geno haters...

There were obviously no other options at 1.1.

Geno or Eric Fisher. That's it.

We had our choice of any player. And we chose Eric Fisher.

Lucky us.

The Chiefs could have chosen any player in that draft last year and it wouldn't have made them any worse than picking Eric Fisher. He had no positive impact on the team. Drafting a QB and stowing him, or picking a fifth WR leaves the 2013 Chiefs just the same.

Obviously, you hope he improves, but to act like there was a worse pick out there for year one is just ****ing moronic

We don't draft 1st round QBs idiot

IIRC didn't albert sit a few games last year with a sprained knee in the second half of the season last year? And during that time the offensive line did fairly well in keeping up the avg points of 35+. All the drama about this line I think is a little overrated. If fisher fails at LT early on Andy will make the change. Stephenson at left and fisher back at right is very similar to the same line we used last year to cover for albert. I'm not going to put the white flag up on Fisher just yet, but I am confident that if Alex starts taking repitive beatings back there Andy will shift things around.

I think Fisher was a bit of a risk/reward type of pick. Most people thought that Joeckel was the safe pick IIRC.

Here are the non O line or D line picks in the top 20 of the 2013 draft.

Tavon Austin (WR), Dee Milner (CB), DJ Hayden (CB), Kenny Vaccaro (S), EJ Manuel (QB), Jarvis Jones (LB), and Eric Reid (S)

Do you see a #1 overall type of talent there? The draft class sucked and there is nothing we can do about it.

a much better pick than fisher


but then not using the pick would have had at least the same impact as drafting fisher


or we could have drafted your boy Tyler Wilson...ouch

You missed a few.

You take a Ziggy Ansah or a Bark Mingo, who have playmaker potential as pass rushers.

You take a Tavon Austin, who has playmaker, gamebreaker potential in the slot.

Or a Kenny Vaccaro, who could have combined with Berry to give us playmakers at safety?

In a draft that has no clear #1, you throw out traditional thinking and take a risk.

Eric Fisher was a safe pick.

Luke Joekel would have been the only selection that would have been safer.

This

the only benefit we've derived from drafting fisher with the #1 pick in the draft (....sorry....still get sick at the thought...just a sec)








...is that we have forever ended the stupid argument about QBs being 'risky' and OL being 'safe'

every pick is a risk, the idea of a safe pick is a lie

by 'safe' people have always just been saying they want to draft of a position of less importance than QB (True Fans)...which is, of course, absurd

Hopefully, Chiefs staff are holding him back abit so there are no medical excuses come spring training. That being said , I can't see how he owns the LT spot without serious improvement. Reid's gotta know this and is maybe "baby stepping" him along to avoid the egg.

I have never believed in the idea of a safe pick. Looking back over the past twenty years of drafts and seeing all the 1.1's who were busts or left after their first contract is mind bottling :p. Hell look at all the first round busts. It's a crap shoot.

I'm shocked...

I hope I am dead wrong.


It would be my pleasure.

:facepalm:

Taking a small 175 lb midget who will never be a true #1 WR 1st overall is the epitome of stupidity.

Safe pick or not, it's not going to stop the Chiefs from going out of their ****ing way to make sure they beef up the line with top picks and save the playmaker positions for last.

If able to re-draft at this point, which is admittedly too soon to say definitively, I'd take a number of players over Fisher. Not only a number of non-OL, but several OL as well. At this point in time, it looks like an absolute waste of a pick..

This team with Vaccaro, Sheldon Richardson, Lotululei, Eric Reid, Mingo, etc would have been far better off up to this point.

Shit, even having a guy like Geno waiting in the wings would give us insurance in the Alex Smith deal. Tavon Austin, despite not really having #1 potential, would do some crazy ****ing things in the return game with Toub coaching him.