Nick Jacob's 53 man Roster Prediction
 

http://www.arrowheadpride.com/2014/8...tion-preseason

Quarterbacks (3)

1. Alex Smith
2. Tyler Bray
3. Aaron Murray


The Chiefs have a big decision to make at this position. Do they get the next wave (Tyler Bray, Aaron Murray) ready for the future? Or keep the expensive veteran (Chase Daniel) in 2014? I say the former. Bray has had an impressive camp. He needs to take the next step in his development with the team. Murray is a similar quarterback to Daniel but he needs reps in this offense. The only way that happens is if he's on the roster.


Running Back (4)

1. Jamaal Charles
2. Knile Davis
3. De'Anthony Thomas
4. Joe McKnight


The top two are set. Thomas is going to be utilized in a multitude of ways. The Chiefs are going to need their fourth back to be able to step in. McKnight, who started camp on the PUP list and lkely won't play Thursday night, is an established veteran with good speed. He also would be a very good contributor on special teams.


Fullback (1)

1. Anthony Sherman

Sherman came to camp in great shape and has picked up where he left off in 2013.


Wide Receivers (6)

1. Dwayne Bowe
2. Donnie Avery
3. Kyle Williams
4. Junior Hemingway
5. Albert Wilson
6. Frankie Hammond


Avery has had a steady camp with some solid catches but hasn't been threatened by anyone for his roster spot. Some thought AJ Jenkins could be that guy but it's been Kyle Williams who has pushed Jenkins. Hemingway started camp out on a strong note but sustained a hamstring injury and hasn't seen the field since the last week of July. Hemingway, an exceptional gunner on special teams, was the featured slot receiver during OTAs. Wilson has picked up where he left off in spring practices. The undrafted free agent out of Georgia State has been the primary target among the quarterbacks. Hammond is having an impressive camp, too. He has shown an ability to get separation off the line and add some much needed speed to the roster.


Tight End (3)

1. Anthony Fasano
2. Travis Kelce
3. Demetrius Harris


Harris provides the most upside of the remaining tight ends. He hasn't had the same impact in camp that he did in spring practices but there isn't much competition left.


Offensive Line (8)

1. Eric Fisher
2. Jeff Allen
3. Rodney Hudson
4. Zach Fulton
5. Donald Stephenson
6. Eric Kush
7. Ryan Harris
8. Ricky Henry


Fulton has been the surprise of camp showing a good base and not looking lost on the field. Kush is ready from a strength perspective to push for a job over the next year. He got big. Harris, signed this offseason, had a shaky start but has steadily improved with each practice. The late addition to the roster has provided the team a serviceable swing tackle with solid technique. Henry, another player who could provide solid depth, has seen looks with the first offense in the past week. I would not be surprised to see the Chiefs look for additional depth on the waiver wire.


Defensive End (4)

1. Mike DeVito
2. Allen Bailey
3. Jaye Howard
4. Mike Catapano


DeVito has looked noticeably quicker in training camp. He could give the defense an additional jolt in sub packages. Bailey is clearly stronger and had some solid bull rushers. Howard has been a pleasant surprise at end, dominating at times at the line of scrimmage. Catapano, stronger this year, has missed a week of camp with a flu virus.


Nose Tackle (2)

1. Dontari Poe
2. Vance Walker


Walker provides versatility along the defensive line. He is capable of playing all three positions and sub packages.


Outside Linebacker (5)

1. Justin Houston
2. Tamba Hali
3. Dee Ford
4. Josh Martin
5. Frank Zombo


Houston showed up to camp in great shape and looked even stronger this season. Ford has a quick first step but it's going to take time. He has to learn some counter moves and how to disengage from blocks in run support. Martin spent the offseason training with Hali and it has showed. The Columbia alumnus has showed a quick burst off the edge. Zombo, who started five games last year, gives the Chiefs serviceable depth and a solid special team performer.


Inside Linebacker (4)

1. Derrick Johnson
2. Joe Mays
3. James Michael-Johnson
4. Josh Mauga


The surprise on this list is likely Mauga. Nico Johnson continues to get buried on the depth chart. The Chiefs keep finding competition to put in front of him. Johnson struggles in pass coverage and will need to make an impact in the preseason games or he will find himself on the waiver wire.


Cornerback (5)

1. Marcus Cooper
2. Ron Parker
3. Sean Smith
4. Chris Owens
5. Phillip Gaines


Cooper has become the No. 1 corner on this roster. Parker has maintained control of the second spot since taking it over this offseason from Sean Smith, who has had a rocky offseason. Owens gives the Chiefs a starting nickel corner who brings an attitude and has made his presence felt. Gaines is going to take time in adjusting the NFL wide receivers.


Free Safety (2)

1. Husain Abdullah
2. Malcolm Bronson


Bronson has forced his way onto this roster. He gives you versatility as a nickel corner, safety and / or special teams contributor.


Strong Safety (3)

1. Eric Berry
2. Jerron McMillian
3. Daniel Sorenson


McMillian has been in good position during camp. Sorenson has been forcing his way onto the roster with his pass breakups and interceptions in camp lately. He also can be a good special teams contributor.


Specialists (3)

1. Dustin Colquitt
2. Cairo Santos
3. Thomas Gafford


Santos has shown a strong leg in camp and Ryan Succop knows the pressure is there.


Injured Reserve

1. Sanders Commings

Commings has had an unlucky stint in Kansas City. The fracture makes his fourth injury in the past year.


Practice Squad

1. Mark Harrison
2. Dominque Hamilton
3. Vernon Kearney
4. Charcandrick West
5. Laurent Duvernay-Tardif
6. Darryl Surgent
7. Jordan Campbell
8. DeMarcus Van Dyke


These are eight players capable of making the roster but need time to develop.

Harrison has promise at the receiver position but a hamstring injury has put him on the back burner.
Hamilton has strength and a solid bull rush on the defensive line.
Kearney could potentially make the roster if there is an injury.
West is a speedy back that needs time to develop but could push for a spot next season.
Duvernay-Tardif has a great deal of technique work ahead of him. His base is off balance and his hands don't come up quick enough on his punch.
Surgent has been consistent in camp. He just isn't getting the same amount of opportunities that Wilson and Hammond have.
Campbell is an intriguing project but needs time to adjust to the new position.
Van Dyke allows the organization to have an additional corner to develop.

Swap out Williams for Jenkins and this looks about right.

Nick Jacobs is a hack the guy is metro sports version of nick athan

We'll see if a team ends up needing a QB...Chase Daniel could fetch us something small.

I like his QB depth chart. Agree with Easy 6, AJ Jenkins over Williams. Not sure about McKnight, but meh.

He's clueless if he thinks Daniel, who Reid targeted in free agency just one year ago and signed to a big backup contract and played well in his start last season, is going to be shipped out for a guy like Bray - who all reports said lacked maturity and couldn't even learn the playbook last year.

If anyone is leaving it's Bray, but more likely none of them are leaving but someone is going to the PS>

By the way, Arrowhead Pride reported this just two days ago:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Andy Reid told us Monday Tyler Bray might be KC&#39;s most improved player in camp. Looking forward to watching him in 3rd qtr this evening.</p>&mdash; Paul Burmeister (@PaulWBurmeister) <a href="https://twitter.com/PaulWBurmeister/statuses/497394266054737923">August 7, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Hmmm not so clueless now? Bray has 1st round potential and a elite arm I honestly think Daniels might be gone. And the reason he has him at #2 is because for trade bait.

He wouldn't last past wavers if we put Bray on the PS because of his potential. Someone would nab him up!

I have a hard time believing they would keep two rookie WRs (okay - one is a 2nd year guy with no regular season experience). Jenkins probably makes it over one of those guys.

I think they will keep Daniel and find a way to put Murray on IR.

Interesting picks on OL. If Duvernay-Tardif shows anything at guard, I think he makes it over Henry.

I don't know about McKnight making it. He seems like he's constantly hurt.

Yup, it's happening. They already have the folks money who paid just to see Daniel being on the team. Time for his 3 circus midget act to get out of town. Oh yeah, inb4 "that's such a dumbass thing to say! He's earned a backup spot by working with Drew Brees!!"

This looks like some awesome exclusive content.

Cyrus Gray has been having a great camp. I find it hard to believe that they'd drop him in favor of a brokedick like McKnight

You're clueless.

Dorsey and Reid outbid the Dolphins for Bray...

He isn't just a guy they picked off the scrapheap.

Well, you know the old saying...
You can make some people happy all the time and all the people happy some of the time.
You can't make all the people happy all the time so tell them to eat a dick.

Bray has first round potential for what, is he re-entering the draft?

Is first-round potential why he went undrafted?

Daniel as trade bait? LMAO

Your opinion would mean more if you actually knew the backup's last name. LMAO

Even more clueless than I thought.

Outbid another team for an undrafted free agent, I'm sure some big money was involved there.

Err, no, Bray is making $495k this year, when the league minimum for 1-year of service time is $450k. (And don't forget, Bray earns a $3,000 bonus this year)

We clearly have way too much invested in Bray. LMAO

Dont think DeMarcus Van Dyke can make the PS unless I'm wrong. Cause he been in the league for awhile.

Rishaw Johnson is reading this and wondering where all the love went.

Neither Bray or Murray will clear waivers to make the PS or IR. Unless they are actually injured.

The reasons for Brays fall have been listed to death, it wasnt a talent concern it was a maturity concern... yet every report about this guy has been rock solid since joining the Chiefs.

"Maybe the most improved" guy this year?

Andy doesnt hand out praise that isnt deserved, I dont know which way this goes, but you're being entirely too dismissive of Bray... his age and upside are two big factors in his favor right now.

Screw Joe McKnight. We need to keep Cyrus.

I don't really care for this 53 "mock" by Jacobs. Just a guys opinion. Not even a guy that has a clue.

Jacobs basically went with newbies wherever he could.

It doesn't make him insightful, nor does it mean he knows a bunch of shit that we don't.

There was 2 Van Dyke's & I thought they were both in camp. The older one was drafted by the Raiders & released. The other one was UDFA this year IIRC.

edit: This is the 4 year vet VD the Raiders drafted. Apparently the younger VD didn't stick.

I can't decide on the more shitty looking group ... WRs or CBs.


What makes that more scary is that they have been going up against each other. Nobody is going know how terrible/good they are until it's too late.

Cyrus Gray sucks

Heres what I dont get about the "shitty receivers" line... how can they be that shitty when this offense put up 35 ppg the last seven games?

Sure, Charles alleviates some of that pressure.

But that doesnt account for all those points, this unheralded group is better than advertised... am I saying we're fine, lets stand pat? Hell NO, I wanted something done here - hello Brandin Cooks - but lets not pretend this current group didnt help get us those 35+.

Throw in some growth from a guy like Jenkins or Hemingway, or a big step from a Hammond or Wilson and things dont seem so bad... everyone knows what Reid has done with no name receivers, with him, big names like TO might help, but they arent a requirement.

We are so screwed. Well at least we only have. 2 more years until they blow it all up and start over again. 2016 Superbowl champs. To the ship.

:hmmm: yep very true. We will find out soon enough.

Add in the fact that Abdullah is more of a SS in terms of range than a true FS.

That secondary looks pretty shitty overall.

Cyrus Gray has enough of an intact body to suck, at least.

**** Joe McKnight.

There were talks that Berry was spending a good amount of time as the deep safety.

He was part of the reason we lost the Colts game.

McKnight can play special teams.

So he is predicting we start the season with a rookie kicker and rookie back up QB's to start the season...oh and the youngest O line in the NFL?

Bold predictions since they have not played a down yet.

No, McKnight can't play special teams.

He can sit in a wheelchair with a feeding tube down his throat. He's never able-bodied.

That's like saying our backup QBs suck. Bring in Brodie Croyle.

Back when we had the most hellacious offense on wheels, our top wide receivers were Eddie Kennison and Johnny Morton. Sometimes I think receivers are overrated. Granted, the game has changed, but winning teams are often those that go against the grain of what everyone else is doing. Since everyone else is throwing the ball, maybe the Chiefs should run it this year.

You're full of shit. Cyrus Gray did nothing in that game to hinder the Chiefs.

AND GUESS WHAT, CYRUS GRAY PLAYS SPECIAL TEAMS.

We can only hope.

we don't have a single receiver that puts fear into a defense. Bowe used to, maybe he still can ... but most of last year he didn't. Avery was our #1 wr for most of the year. Let that sink in for awhile.

Charles is the only skill guy on our offense that would start for most other teams.

Sum is greater than the parts.

Which is fine, but at some point we are going to need some pass catchers that can dictate the flow of the game.

Exactly, Vermeil never had a true scary ass #1 here... Kennison was very solid, but never struck me as a "keeps defensive coordinators awake at nights" guy.

He just knew how to use what he had, like Reid.

Laz, I get it, theres precious little flash and flair on this group right now... but I suppose I'll simply admit to trusting that Reid knows what he's doing with this offense... worst to first record, career year from a WCO noob QB etc.

I don't get the whole Joe McKnight thing.

If we are going young, then just do it.

The special teams/gadget RB position seems like the ideal place to bring in young athletes.

McKnight would offer nothing to this team considering he's a punt returner (that would never get an opportunity to return a punt) who couldn't play the up man position during punt block protection like Gray does, and McKnight is always hurt. Gray is also 24. McKnight is 26. There's nothing left to say

no doubt ... Reid was the reason the offense worked. Now we need to find receivers that can make Reid's offense run better. Receivers that force a defense to play the entire field and not cheat.

Imagine Charles in an offense where the defense had to keep both safeties 15 yards deep because they couldn't cover our WRs 1-on-1.

I agree with others here, the secondary looks to be a huge problem.

I can't think of anything less appetizing than watching this secondary get roasted all season long

Well, let's see how Ron Parker looks tonight. He played well last year in his spot duty. Let's see if Cooper can be a playmaker with those WR hands.

Chris Owens to me, isn't anything more than what Javier Arenas was defensively.

The safeties are fine though. Abdullah is a solid upgrade over Kendra Lewis.

I hope you are right, but we're counting on all these guys to take a pretty significant step forward this year.

I think Berry is going to be fine if he's used according to his strengths. Abdullah is definitely an upgrade and he's a good guy to have on your roster, but I don't really think he's a starter in the NFL on a good defense.

We're not going to learn anything about Ron Parker tonight.

Spot on.

I'll say that I believe Abdullah is starter martial. Now I'm not going to say who he would or wouldn't start for in the league, but he has starter skills and he's a vet.

The corners are the only part of the secondary I'm concerned with. But I mean, how often do 2nd year guys not improve off a decent rookie campaign?

It's natural to expect a better level of play from Cooper. We didn't see enough from Parker last year, but he fits the height/weight/speed system that we're adopting.

Nothing at all? So we have to wait until week 1 then?

Obviously we're not going to learn boom or bust with Parker in one quarter of pre season action, but there's things that can be analyzed today from a physical/technique standpoint. At least for those of us who haven't seen him up close and with detail

I'm taking Mark Harrison as my wild card to make it.

Joe McKnight is going to have a career year. BANK ON IT!

The game plans are completely vanilla. At this point it's mostly about physical skills and most of these guys are athletic enough to keep from getting completely exposed in a preseason game.

In other words, the only possible thing you can learn right now is whether or not he's BAD. We won't know if he's actually GOOD until we start facing a real offensive game plan.

Jenkins, by virtue of his guaranteed contract, seems fairly likely to make the 53.

Huge leap

Plenty of terrible position groups on that 53.

The starters are fine. Depth wise, not really.

If Abdullah is primarily the deep safety, we're not "fine". He's an upgrade over Lewis for sure but he lacks high-end range. With our corners, we really need FLAWLESS deep safety play. Hopefully they're not opposed to putting Berry back there more...

1.Espn had a different take and said that neither Bray nor Murray had done anything to show themselves on the level of Daniel.

2. You didn't write his name correctly. It's Tyler "Enola" Bray

I thought it was Tyler Shay.

With a couple of dashes of Emeril's seasoning, It becomes a BAMBURGER.

No.....Tyler "Enola" Bray because he'll be dropping bombs all over the 3rd quarter.


I don't really believe it, but the joke works.

again, huge leap.

IF ............. adbullah turns out to be a 'fine' NFL starter i will be surprised.


He could, but i won't believe it until i see it.


I think it's more likely that Berry turns into a good free safety and somebody else steps in at SS (Sorenson?) and that's a long shot.

That's our difference here. I don't expect flawless. There's not a Earl Thomas available. Abdullah is serviceable. I expect average to above average from Abdullah this year.

Ok.

He'll surprise you a bit this year then. Maybe he's one of those guys that people don't know enough about. I feel like I've seen enough of him between Minnesota and his solid play last year to feel confident in him.

With our corners, that's not going to be good enough. Abdullah is a part-time starter but more complete as a backup.

If he's the deep man, we're going to get torched. Repeatedly.

EDIT: His best season in Minnesota was a SS.

We're using him in the box on those 3 safety nickel packages during camp if it makes you feel better.

That will help a lot. I haven't been following camp that close.

God damn we have the worst CBs in football.

I wish I could strongly disagree with you.

Yep, Daniel is going to be the #2. There is no question about that.

Wait until Dorsey does his 1 week til opening day overhaul of random ass guys.

We're not #1 on the waiver wire so it's going to be tougher for him to work his magic.

Well dammit.

Last year we found our two corners doing this trick. I was hoping we'd find WRs this year.

Wonder how many more times we are going to be telling these dumbasses this same damn thing?

I know I've probably posted it 4 or 5 times, and seen it posted by others.

On another note, I can't believe we are arguing about who sucks more between Gray and McNight.

If we end up having to rely on either because of injury, we're ****ed even moreso that we already are.

:facepalm:

Old people don't understand sarcasm

All defenses have "weak" points. Even the good ones. It's just that some weak points are REALLY weak, and others aren't weak at all.

If Abdullah is a defense's "weak" point, then that defense is pretty ****ing good.

You're all going to be surprised how good he is this year, I think.

We also had Dorsey magic last year, and now people are bitching about how much our corners suck.

For the record, I don't think we're in deep shit with Cooper and Parker as our starting CBs. The point is that we have no Jalil Browns or VINCE ****ING AGNEWS to **** shit up this year. The guys we have are well-liked by the coaches and were hand-picked by Dorsey himself. Even if he had his pick of any of the waiver wire cuts this year, I doubt he'd pick up more than one or two guys, and probably none of them would be players in the secondary.

Damn, I should have kept my mouth shut.

Ron Parker ****ing SUCKS.

I feel like I have seen more of Abdullah because he came up with the Vikings while I was living there, and I like the guy. He was a good special teams contributor and was a decent extra defensive back, but he didn't stick around there either and Minnesota isn't a team that's had a great secondary in recent years at all. He's a smart player, he's a good tackler. But he doesn't strike you as someone who is terribly gifted as an athlete (was an undrafted free agent) and he's not an instinct player, he makes mistakes in coverage more than you'd like to see.

He's a little on the high side of just-a-guy IMO. I would like him a lot as our third safety because he can play both positions, at least he did with the Vikings.

It could be that we'll get more from him than we did last year, he had just taken a year off from football the year before to go to Mecca IIRC.

His feet are happy, always have been.

LMAO

VINCE ****ING AGNEW