Keep ****ing doubting Rishaw Johnson.

[Direckshun]

http://www.arrowheadpride.com/2014/3...-johnson-guard

Kansas City Chiefs G Rishaw Johnson impressed late last season
By Joel Thorman
on Mar 19 2014, 8:44a

Regular readers may have noticed that we recently posted an item on Chiefs safety Sanders Commings and whether he could end up being the answer at free safety. Right here we have another post wondering if an in-house player is the answer at a position of need.

The position is guard and the player is Rishaw Johnson.

As a refresher, Johnson was an SEC recruit at Ole Miss in 2008. He was there until 2010 when he was kicked off the team. He then went to California (PA). He joined the Seahawks in his first season in the NFL then came to Kansas City his second year. The league lists him at 6'3 and 313 pounds. Last year's starting guards are listed at 340 pounds (Geoff Scwhartz), 306 pounds (Jon Asamoah) and 305 pounds (Jon Asamoah).

Matt Conner included Johnson in our in-house players series earlier this year but I came across a couple more of items on Johnson that warrants another look-see.

Last week, I saw this from Lance Zierlein, sports talk radio host in Houston and football writer:

Lance Zierlein @LanceZierlein

@bkissel7 @Schottey Chiefs believe Rishaw is ready to take over. They LOVED how he played vs. SD at end of the year.

Johnson was among the Chiefs backups that played in Week 17 against the Chargers while the starters rested but a backup throughout the season. That caught my interest for obvious reasons being free agency week and all. If the Chiefs believe they possibly / maybe / could have a potential starting guard on the roster, they probably wouldn't go out and spend big money on a guard in free agency, right?

Terez A. Paylor @TerezPaylor

This is true. Did well vs SD RT @ArrowheadPride: Seems like a long shot but Chiefs do have an in-house option at OG http://sbn.to/1jxEmMw

But wait! There's more!

Schwartz, who is now with the Giants in New York, went on The Drive with Danny Parkins on 610 Sports on Tuesday. Danny asked him what the Chiefs have in the guys who were behind him on the Chiefs line last season.

"Rishaw played really well in the Chargers game," Schwartz said. "He's a guy that has a lot of talent and he really developed as the year went on. He's strong and explosive off the ball. Sometimes it takes guys a couple of years to get comfortable where they're playing in a game. He did a great job against the Chargers."

Another mention of the Chargers game ... interesting. This led me to asking Chiefs GM John Dorsey on our call yesterday how important that Week 17 game was for the coaching staff and front office, getting the youngsters a shot to play.

"Anytime you can get another opportunity to evaluate the players that don't get to contribute on a week-in, week-out basis, that's very helpful," Dorsey said. "What it does is it helps the coaching staff get a degree of comfort that those guys in the personnel department as they build this thing. That's what the communication between the coaches and the personnel staff does. It's always an advantage to get those guys to play and those guys showed very well on Week 17 of the NFL schedule."

Unfortunately, Dorsey wasn't giving us an in-depth scouting report on Johnson but he did say this: "He's going to come in here and he's going to compete. He's showed that he can play the game of football, and I'm just excited to see how much stride he has made here this year."

It's a long way to the season opener with more free agency and the 2014 NFL Draft to acquire more talent as well as evaluation opportunities such as OTAs and training camp to evaluate existing talent. Rishaw Johnson is one of those existing talents that is one to keep an eye on.

It's almost like the Sanders Commings situation. You have hopes that this guy can come in and take over the job next year. But he's probably too young and inexperienced to hand the job to him. Competition and veteran insurance (Jeff Linkenbach?) is needed.

My gut has been telling me for a while that the Chiefs first round pick will be an offensive lineman. That would obviously shake things up.

[O.city]

Originally Posted by RunKC

Except they did spend it wisely last year. Oops.

How so?

20 mil in cap space, and our free agent haul ended up being a te that stayed broken, a good #2 cb maybe, a one dimensional de and a we we are now looking to replace (apparently so is the team).

We spent, we always spend. Just not always wise.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by O.city

How so?

20 mil in cap space, and our free agent haul ended up being a te that stayed broken, a good #2 cb maybe, a one dimensional de and a we we are now looking to replace (apparently so is the team).

We spent, we always spend. Just not always wise.

How could you forget Dunta Robinson? He was awesome!

[RunKC]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

Tell me again how that's not true? Try elaborating this time instead of using emoji's.

[O.city]

Fwiw, I like the Sean smith signing, think he's a good fit. I also like putting Rishaw at rg.

But come on.

[O.city]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

How could you forget Dunta Robinson? He was awesome!

Damn

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by RunKC

Tell me again how that's not true? Try elaborating this time instead of using emoji's.

Why would I explain something that you can't possibly comprehend? You love the Fisher pick. You love the Alex Smith trade.

You've bought into their plan hook, line, and sinker. Enjoy it.

[RunKC]

Originally Posted by O.city

How so?

20 mil in cap space, and our free agent haul ended up being a te that stayed broken, a good #2 cb maybe, a one dimensional de and a we we are now looking to replace (apparently so is the team).

We spent, we always spend. Just not always wise.

Geoff Schwartz
Sean Smith
Akeem Jordan
Husain Abdullah
Alex Smith (we took on his salary)

Every one of those guys were good players last year. Of course you can make a case that Donnie Avery was okay, but not a great signing by any means.

[RunKC]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

Why would I explain something that you can't possibly comprehend? You love the Fisher pick. You love the Alex Smith trade.

You've bought into their plan hook, line, and sinker. Enjoy it.

Speaking of not comprehending!

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by RunKC

Geoff Schwartz
Sean Smith
Akeem Jordan
Husain Abdullah
Alex Smith (we took on his salary)

Every one of those guys were good players last year. Of course you can make a case that Donnie Avery was okay, but not a great signing by any means.

So Geoff Schwartz is a good signing when it supports your homerism but when they let him go, he's a scrub not worth the money?

[O.city]

Also I don't think they're thinking Alex smith is necessarily a band aid. I legitimately think they feel he can be the late season playoff Alex smith here for 5 years.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by RunKC

Speaking of not comprehending!

What is there to comprehend? You're a ****ing lemming. We all get it.

[O.city]

Akeem Jordan?

[RunKC]

And LOL at Dunta Robinson. You expect a new GM to clean up all of Pioli's failures in one offseason?

Dunta was the best possible option at the time and we desperately needed a CB at that time.

[RunKC]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

So Geoff Schwartz is a good signing when it supports your homerism but when they let him go, he's a scrub not worth the money?

I was not happy that we let this guy go.

[lcarus]

Originally Posted by O.city

Also I don't think they're thinking Alex smith is necessarily a band aid. I legitimately think they feel he can be the late season playoff Alex smith here for 5 years.

I think Alex Smith paired with Andy Reid is a great combination. If we can somehow manage to get better at TE and WR, this offense will be fun to watch.