Connor Barth a.k.a the biggest steal in this year's draft

[blueballs]

TOP OF THE MORNIN'
Chiefs undrafted rookie getting a kick out of workouts
By JEFFREY FLANAGAN
The Kansas City Star

Chiefs undrafted rookie kicker Connor Barth understands that Chiefs fans are probably a bit squeamish when they hear the words “rookie” and “kicker” in the same sentence.

He knows the tale of last year’s drafted rookie, Justin Medlock, who was so bad he lost his job in September.

“Yes, I did hear about it,” Barth said after one of the Chiefs’ OTA workouts last week. “I guess he was kicking really great in the OTAs and in training camp and then came the games, and I guess he wasn’t mentally prepared for it.”

Barth, from North Carolina, vows he’ll be different. Not that he’s trying to sound cocky, but …

“I think my strength is staying positive under pressure,” he said. “It comes down to just relying on the same leg swing for every kick. That’s my strength, I think.”

Barth said he may not have had a lot of game-winning kicks for the Tar Heels, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t under pressure.

“Well, we weren’t a great team when I was there,” he said. “And we didn’t score a ton of points. It’s not like we were Louisville and we’d score 70 a game.

“Every field goal mattered to us, so it was pressure. We had to have those three points.”

Barth nailed 54 of 71 field goals during his career as a Tar Heel, with a long of 54. Leg strength, he said, isn’t a problem.

“I feel confident that I should hit anything from 55 and in,” he said. “I’ve hit from 60 in practice, but you don’t get asked to do it that much during games.

“The big thing is you really want to be consistent from 40 to 49. That separates the good kickers from the average ones.”

Barth will have his work cut out for him at the OTAs going up against veterans Nick Novak and Billy Cundiff.

“I’ve got to show something because they’re only going to take two out of three to training camp,” Barth said.

And though Barth knows it’s a long shot to become the Chiefs’ kicker, he also understands that becoming a kicker in the NFL takes patience and determination.

“There’s only 32 jobs out there,” he said. “People don’t have backups. But the league is full of guys who were cut early on and caught on with someone else. You just hope to hang long enough to get yourself on film and then keep plugging away until you stick somewhere.”

Not the NFL

Yes, the “American Idol” thing was a big deal in Kansas City. Tuesday night’s show on Fox posted a 19.2 rating in Kansas City, while Wednesday night had a 23.1 rating.

Those are great numbers, but consider that the lowest Chiefs rating during a dreadful season last year was 24.5 for the game against the Lions. Even the Chiefs’ season finale against the Jets drew a 27.4.


To reach Jeffrey Flanagan call 816-234-4492 and leave a message or send e-mail to [email protected]