Several Chiefs rookies spoke out yesterday about their individual progresses with learning the playbook and settling into an unfamiliar atmosphere. Among those rookies who spoke out was first-round pick LB Dee Ford out of Auburn. When asked about his contract, he responded the way you’d want your first year player to respond. “I just want to play football,” he said. “I’m excited about the opportunity to get to play here. Now I’m officially a Chief.”
Ford claims the system is “becoming second nature” to him. He said, “I am dropping in coverage and they’re doing a great job teaching me. They’re going to beat it into my brain, so I’ll get it. I fit perfectly in the system playing behind Justin (Houston) and Tamba (Hali), and I can come in and make some plays.”
He grades his comfort level as nothing more or less than average. In fact, he’s going to keep it average for a reason. “I give it a C. There is always room for improvement,” Ford stated. I don’t want to feel like I’ve arrived. I want to stay grounded and just learn. You can never learn too much. You always have to stay at the C. There’s always room for improvement.”
Georgia QB Aaron Murray fielded questions mostly pertaining to his knee. “It’s good, feels great,” he said. “There’s no second thought. There’s no ‘be careful on the knee.’ ‘Don’t slip into a throw.’ It’s all just go out there and play and have fun and execute the play. It feels awesome.”
Murray recently took a big step in the recovery process by facing a pass rush during offensive drills. He claimed it was huge for him to be able to test that trust in his knee. He said, “It was a nice mental hurdle to get over knowing that I have to trust it. I have to trust my throws. I can’t worry about what’s going on in front of me. It’s not a second thought right now. It’s just a reaction and playing football.”
He’s made studying the playbook his first priority and left the “thinking” part out of the equation. “That’s all you can really do right now as a rookie. Just getting your nose in the playbook, learn as much as you can from the playbook,” said Murray. “You can’t go out there and execute, you can’t go out here and play to your full potential or play fast when you’re thinking. That’s the hard part for all the rookies where we can be sometimes hesitant because we don’t exactly get what we’re doing, so the best thing we can do and the thing I’ve been doing day-in and day-out is just studying my playbook, making sure I know the thing in and out so when I come out it’s just playing, reacting and making throws.”
Highly touted draft pick De’Anthony Thomas discussed getting a lot of time in the slot as well as his hopes to take his team to the “promise land.”
“I feel like I’ve been getting a lot of work. During practice I’ve been playing slot a lot, so I’m pretty familiar with the position. I’m just ready to execute and contribute to this team,” he said.
When asked about what he’s “best at,” his answer was simple. If it lacked anything, confidence certainly wasn’t it. “I just feel like I’m a playmaker. Wherever Coach puts me on the field, I’m going to help this team get to the promise land.”
