Teicher:Horne makes the most of his chance
 

Horne makes the most of his chance
By ADAM TEICHER
The Kansas City Star

TAMPA, Fla. | The Chiefs put Jeremy Horne in the game in the first quarter, and the rookie free agent wide receiver didn’t disappoint in Saturday night’s preseason game against the Buccaneers.

Horne made his first NFL catch a big one when he grabbed a 6-yard touchdown pass from Matt Cassel with 6 minutes, 47 seconds left in the quarter. The play provided the Chiefs their only touchdown of the half and a 7-3 lead. Tampa Bay went on to win 20-15.

Horne had been open in the end zone on an earlier play, but Cassel went elsewhere with the ball.

“When he first came in, it was a shock to most of us,” Cassel said. “But at the same time, he wouldn’t be in there if he wasn’t ready to go and the coaches didn’t feel like he was ready to go. He went in there, he did a great job and he made a play when we needed it.”

Horne began to work his way out of the rookie free agent mold with some big catches at training camp. Then, in last week’s game in Atlanta, Horne twice ran past defenders to get open deep but the quarterback couldn’t get him the ball either time.

The Chiefs were intrigued enough with Horne and his speed to give him more plays against Tampa Bay. Taking snaps that otherwise would have gone to a veteran like Dwayne Bowe, Chris Chambers or Jerheme Urban, Horne entered the game with the Chiefs inside the Tampa Bay 25.

The touchdown came on third down. Horne didn’t play again until the second half, but the Chiefs are encouraged by the progress of Horne, who played in college at Massachusetts.

“This guy’s a young player that has a certain skill set that is unique at times,” coach Todd Haley said. “That’s what it is right now. He can run fast, do some of those things. We really don’t know what we have there.

“He got thrown into the game. We had a series where he was going in and it turned into a longer series, and all of a sudden he was in there. …

“He’s a hard worker doing the things necessary to try to make a place for himself with the Chiefs. I’m encouraged with the way he’s working. He got the chance to make a play and he did it.”

Horne’s chances of making the regular season roster are better than they were when training camp started, but the Chiefs still appear set at wide receiver with Bowe, Chambers, Urban, Dexter McCluster and Terrance Copper — the latter being a skilled special-teams player.

good, i hope the kid works out.i like it when they find talent from nowhere.

I understand the importance of special teams, but if Copper makes this roster ahead f Horne, who might be the best option to stretch the field as a deep threat in the offense, then our evaluation process is ****ed.

No shit. Cooper over Horne? Uhhhh No

How Fast do you have to run 11 yards?

Faster than the guy covering you.

Seriously, even knowing that Cassel can't hit the deep ball, you still gotta try, and maybe Horne will get so open that he'll have time to wait for it.

But you have to establish that you will at least try.

I like Horne. I'll be shocked if he doesn't make the roster.

1) Given the utter chaos at WR last year, this has to help the mediocre one's (i.e., Cassel) performance.

2) Horne's best chance of making the roster is if we keep 6 WRs. Copper is a valuable ST asset, and I tend to doubt we'd go with 2 rooks behind the starters.

dang ... the article is painful to read



the sentence structure is just awful.

See pick 2b. This organization values ST (as they should, especially with a bendy D).

As I said, I do understand the value of STs as well.

But I just don't believe that Copper's value to special teams is equal to what Horne can bring to the offense.

Guys, milkman's right.

Or Urban for that matter. I haven't seen much of him that he should be on their roster as well.
Posted via Mobile Device

Good call.

<table style="width: 509px; height: 300px;"><tbody><tr class="loop-even"><td class="col-jersey" rel="82">82 </td> <td class="col-name"> Bowe, Dwayne </td> <td class="col-position">WR</td> <td class="col-height">6-2</td> <td class="col-weight">221</td><td class="col-bd">25</td><td class="col-exp" rel="04"> 4 </td> <td class="col-college">LSU</td> </tr><tr class="loop-odd"> <td class="col-jersey" rel="84"> 84 </td> <td class="col-name"> Chambers, Chris </td> <td class="col-position">WR</td> <td class="col-height">5-11</td> <td class="col-weight">210</td><td class="col-bd">32</td><td class="col-exp" rel="10"> 10 </td> <td class="col-college">Wisconsin</td> </tr><tr class="loop-even"> <td class="col-jersey" rel="10"> 10 </td> <td class="col-name"> Copper, Terrance </td> <td class="col-position">WR</td> <td class="col-height">6-0</td> <td class="col-weight">207</td><td class="col-bd">28</td><td class="col-exp" rel="07"> 7 </td> <td class="col-college">East Carolina</td> </tr><tr class="loop-odd"> <td class="col-jersey" rel="13"> 13 </td> <td class="col-name"> Gunnell, Rich </td> <td class="col-position">WR</td> <td class="col-height">5-11</td> <td class="col-weight">197</td><td class="col-bd">23</td><td class="col-exp" rel="00"> R </td> <td class="col-college">Boston College</td> </tr><tr class="loop-even"> <td class="col-jersey" rel="08"> 8 </td> <td class="col-name"> Horne, Jeremy </td> <td class="col-position">WR</td> <td class="col-height">6-2</td> <td class="col-weight">193</td><td class="col-bd">23</td><td class="col-exp" rel="00"> R </td> <td class="col-college">Massachusetts</td> </tr><tr class="loop-odd"> <td class="col-jersey" rel="14"> 14 </td> <td class="col-name"> Lawrence, Quinten </td> <td class="col-position">WR</td> <td class="col-height">6-0</td> <td class="col-weight">184</td><td class="col-bd">25</td><td class="col-exp" rel="02"> 2 </td> <td class="col-college">McNeese State</td> </tr><tr class="loop-even"> <td class="col-jersey" rel="17"> 17 </td> <td class="col-name"> Long, Lance </td> <td class="col-position">WR</td> <td class="col-height">5-11</td> <td class="col-weight">186</td><td class="col-bd">25</td><td class="col-exp" rel="02"> 2 </td> <td class="col-college">Mississippi State</td> </tr><tr class="loop-odd"> <td class="col-jersey" rel="22"> 22 </td> <td class="col-name"> McCluster, Dexter </td> <td class="col-position">WR</td> <td class="col-height">5-8</td> <td class="col-weight">170</td><td class="col-bd">21</td><td class="col-exp" rel="00"> R </td> <td class="col-college">Mississippi</td> </tr><tr class="loop-even"> <td class="col-jersey" rel="15"> 15 </td> <td class="col-name"> Tucker, Verran </td> <td class="col-position">WR</td> <td class="col-height">6-1</td> <td class="col-weight">204</td><td class="col-bd">22</td><td class="col-exp" rel="00"> R </td> <td class="col-college">California</td> </tr><tr class="loop-odd"> <td class="col-jersey" rel="83"> 83 </td> <td class="col-name"> Urban, Jerheme </td> <td class="col-position">WR</td> <td class="col-height">6-3</td> <td class="col-weight">207</td><td class="col-bd">29</td><td class="col-exp" rel="06"> 6 </td> <td class="col-college">Trinity (TX)</td></tr></tbody></table>
Bowe,Chambers,Horne,McCluster,Urban?

might be able to keep copper too since DMC in consider multi-purpose and copper is ST