Teicher: Savage makes an impression on Edwards.

[BigRedChief]

http://www.kansascity.com/sports/chi...ry/754716.html


Chiefs’ Savage makes a good impression on Edwards
By ADAM TEICHER
The Kansas City Star


Dantrell Savage was only a fringe candidate at the start of training camp when the Chiefs pondered the identity of their next kick-return specialist.

It might be his job to lose now.

That became evident in the fourth quarter of Saturday night’s exhibition game against Arizona. After his nifty 45-yard kickoff return in the third quarter, Savage was called to the sideline for a quick consultation with coach Herm Edwards.

Edwards had some friendly advice for Savage, a rookie free agent.

“I just said, ‘That’s what I like. You just keep doing that.’ ” Edwards said after Monday’s practice. “When you get a player like that, when they do things like that, it gets the whole sideline enthusiastic. Not only the fans but the players, too.”

The head coach, too, evidently. It’s rarely Edwards’ style to publicly rave about a player, but he’s having trouble controlling himself with Savage, who signed with the Chiefs not immediately after the draft but after his invitation to a rookie tryout camp.

“I just think he’s a really good football player,” Edwards said. “He runs with a lot of passion. That’s what you like about the guy. He’s tough and physical. He’s pretty good. I’ll put it that way.”

Savage is only 5 feet 8 and 182 pounds and doesn’t have blazing speed to compensate, so he’s used to being overlooked.

“I feel I made their decision harder,” he said. “That’s what I have to do every day and every week. I just have to keep pushing and doing the things I have to do to make the team.”

Savage’s main competition is veteran B.J. Sams, who was once one of the game’s premier return specialists with Baltimore. Each of Sams’ last two seasons ended prematurely because of injury, and he is trying to re-establish himself.

Sams has also done well with his return chances in the preseason, but he’s been getting fewer than Savage.

“They’re just telling me to take it slow and they’ll ease me back in,” Sams said. “I feel like I’m 100 percent, back to where I used to be. I feel I can make the same moves and outrun some people. But they call the shots. I’m just going to do what they tell me to do.”

Edwards’ assessment of Sams was less than glowing

“He’s OK,” Edwards said simply. “He’s all right.”

When the subject moved back to Savage, Edwards’ mood changed abruptly.

“He’s like a bowling ball with butcher knives on it,” Edwards said. “It’s hard to tackle the guy. He’s not the biggest guy. He’s probably not the fastest guy. That’s probably why he wasn’t drafted.

“He doesn’t go down on the first hit. If you think you can just hit him with your shoulder and not wrap him up, you’ve got problems. He’s going to make yards.

“When he gets ready to get hit, he has the ability because he’s not the tallest guy to get his weight on you and hit you back. You’re not going to explode on him so much as he explodes on you. He’s not going down. You’ve got to tackle this guy to bring him down.”

Edwards has apparently been telling Savage the same things in private.

“He’s an admirer of my skills,” Savage said. “He thinks I’m fearless. That’s what I have to show him, that I’m not scared to run.”

Savage was a standout in his two seasons at Oklahoma State and showed some good things at the Senior Bowl practices last winter, but still he went undrafted. He also had offers from Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay and talked with Indianapolis and Atlanta but opted to come to the Chiefs.

“The best decision for me was to come to KC,” he said. “I’m getting a chance to return kicks here. Plus I looked at some of the running backs on those other clubs and didn’t know how much of a chance I would get. Here was the best fit for me.”

It initially seemed to be an odd choice. The Chiefs are as deep at running back as they’ve been in many years with Larry Johnson, Kolby Smith, Jamaal Charles and Jackie Battle.

Savage is still only fifth on the depth chart at running back.

“I guess I’m the type of guy that likes competition,” he said. “If we’re going to play against a great defense, I’m up for the competition. I’ll end up playing better against a great defense. There are some great running backs here, but this will only make me better.”

Returning kicks would put him on the roster. He’s been spending extra time fielding punts, something he only occasionally did at Oklahoma State.

While Edwards is a solid Savage fan, it remains to be seen whether he would trust such an important job to a rookie.

“That’s what we’re going to find out,” Edwards said. “That’s a tough spot. It looks easy, but it takes funny turns. You’ve got to have a lot of confidence to be back there.”

[wasi]

Colston of the Saints was a 7th rounder. But your right he is the only one that comes to mind of recent drafts.

[Micjones]

I'm happy for Dantrell.

He's made this football team and I'm looking forward to seeing him this season.

[bringbackmarty]

Herm plagarized sapp's bowling ball with butcher knives comment from a few years back, only this time, instead of a defensive tackle, it's a rb.

[Deberg_1990]

Originally Posted by wasi

Colston of the Saints was a 7th rounder. But your right he is the only one that comes to mind of recent drafts.

hes a huge exception. Im sure there are tons of examples. Dante Hall i believe was a 6th rounder??

Anyhow, nothing is really expected out of low round guys like that except depth. Anything they can give you is a bonus. If they give you nothing, no big loss.

[ElGringo]

I don't understand of all the talk about him being a rookie as a bad thing. In a kick returner, the one thing I have always liked with rookies, they don't know any better. Yeah, stupid mistakes come with the territory, but with the big risk comes big reward. With a guy like this we also would not have the same downfall worries as what ultimately happened with Dante (and is currently happening with Hester). Dante cracked the starting lineup, and started to consider himself a receiver, returning was secondary. It sounds like Savage really has no worries about that, and has to be the best returner on the team to stay on the team. I say keep him, let him develop into a great return man, and like the rest of the team, will be ready in a year or two.

[siberian khatru]

Dantrell Savage was only a fringe candidate at the start of training camp when the Chiefs pondered the identity of their next kick-return specialist.

From Teicher's blog at the start of camp:

"I keep getting e-mails from Chiefs fans asking me about some undrafted fringe guy named Darnell Savage. For some reason, they think he might stick as a return guy (probably just a bunch of Big 12 fans). It got so bad, even my editor asked me why I hadn't written anything about Savage.

"Let me try to put this as clear as possible: Guys like Daunte Savage don't make the NFL. Ever. No way. Stop bothering me with this ridiculous speculation that he could grab someone's job. Jesus Christ, people, GET A LIFE. God, I hate this ****ing job sometimes, having to deal with moron readers who don't know a goddamn thing about football.

"Teichercrest OUT."

[Chiefshrink]

is getting about as bad as Whitless. Savage is our boy!!!!

[boogblaster]

I like the ROOK ...

[Deberg_1990]

Originally Posted by siberian khatru

"Let me try to put this as clear as possible: Guys like Daunte Savage don't make the NFL.

Clearly undrafted guys never make NFL teams **cough** Priest Holmes **cough*

[CosmicPal]

While Edwards is a solid Savage fan, it remains to be seen whether he would trust such an important job to a rookie.

Edwards will have to trust him, just like he has to trust the other majority of young players on the team.

I hope Savage wins the job as a return specialist. Not only that, he can be an insurance at RB as well, should injuries ever deplete that position.

The guy is trying his heart out to win a job. He's not interested in anything other than proving to the coaches, the teammates, and every football fan around that he deserves to be a pro player. That in itself is reason enough to hand him the job over Sams.

[Tribal Warfare]

Originally Posted by Deberg_1990

Im not sure about wasted?? How many 6th and 7th rounders ever make a significant impact in their first year??

Jarred Page, has made a pretty big impact, and Robinson was drafted to compete as the sufficient KR/PR.

[tooge]

Samms response to all the savage hype is lame. Basically saying the staff is holding him back. That is BS. How could they evaluate him if they told him to just "take it slow". Return guys have to hit it hard. He is a gonner. go Savage

[blueballs]

Mitch is working on a nickname as we praise and rejoice

[CoMoChief]

“They’re just telling me to take it slow and they’ll ease me back in,” Sams said. “I feel like I’m 100 percent, back to where I used to be. I feel I can make the same moves and outrun some people. But they call the shots. I’m just going to do what they tell me to do.”

Kinda a nice way of saying...............Ray Farmer will be needing to see you soon.

[BigRedChief]

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slu...v=ap&type=lgns

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP)—The odds were long entering training camp that Dantrell Savage would make the Kansas City Chiefs’ roster when the season opened. However, he has picked up a big fan in head coach Herm Edwards.

Savage rushed for 2,092 yards, averaging 6 yards a carry, in two years at Oklahoma State, but he was passed over in the NFL draft. The Chiefs signed him out of a tryout camp, and he has opened some eyes in the first two preseason games.

“He’s like a bowling ball with butcher knives on him,” Edwards said after practice Monday. “It’s hard to tackle the guy. He’s not the biggest guy. He’s probably not the fastest guy. That’s probably why he wasn’t drafted, but then you look what he accomplished at Oklahoma State.

“He doesn’t go down on the first hit. If you think you can just hit him with your shoulders and don’t wrap him up, you’ve got problems. He’s going to make yards. He’s got a very strong base. He’s got powerful legs.”

When Savage returned an Arizona kickoff 45 yards in the third quarter Saturday night to set up a Chiefs field goal, Edwards congratulated Savage on the sidelines.
“I said, ‘That’s what I like,”’ Edwards said. “‘You just keep running like that. You keep doing that.”’

Savage said Edwards’ words “meant a whole lot.”

“It meant I’m a little bit closer to making this team,” Savage said.

Savage is listed as a running back, but on the depth chart he’s behind two-time Pro Bowl selection Larry Johnson; Kolby Smith, who rushed for 150 yards against Oakland last year after Johnson was injured; and Jamaal Charles, a third-round pick who rushed for 1,619 yards last year at Texas.
If Savage is to make the final roster, he will have to prove he is worthy of returning kickoff and punts. He did not return punts in Kansas City’s preseason opener against the Chicago Bears, but returned two for 18 yards in the 27-17 loss to the Cardinals.

“We challenged him two weeks ago,” Edwards said. “I said, ‘I want you to catch punts everyday after practice cause I want to get you in a game and see how you react.’ To his credit before the game, they took the JUGS machine out there because he’s never really caught balls under the lights. He wanted to be prepared to catch them in a game and he did a good job.”

Will Edwards feel comfortable with Savage fielding punts during the regular season?
“That’s what we’re going to find out in the next two weeks,” Edwards said. “That’s a tough spot, catching punts. It looks easy, but that ball takes funny turns.”

Savage knows that if he can handle those chores, it could be his ticket to the NFL.
“It’s a whole lot different than catching a kickoff,” he said. “I have to adapt if I want to make the team.”

Savage, who is listed at 5-8 and 182 pounds, relishes his longshot role.
“I love it,” he said. “Being an underdog, it motivates me. They also say I’m too small. It motivates me to play harder and dig down deep.”