KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -Speed, strength and high-caliber athletic ability were not the only qualities Kansas City went looking for in the 2010 draft.
With leadership also at a premium, six of the first seven players Scott Pioli wound up selecting in his second draft as the team’s general manager also happened to be college team captains.
Coincidence? Not hardly.
“I think we have improved our football team on the field, in the locker room, from a leadership standpoint, and an eventual leadership standpoint,” Pioli said.
Tennessee safety Eric Berry, taken with the overall No. 5 selection to fill what was perhaps Kansas City’s greatest need, was voted a captain shortly after becoming a starter for the Volunteers.
et comfortable with him quickly.”
It’s not that character has been a main problem on a franchise that was 4-12 last year and has only 10 wins the past three seasons. But Pioli said the day he was introduced as the Chiefs’ new boss in January 2009 that he was interested in rebuilding around smart, fast, well-disciplined players who love football.
“Those are the things we knew we were looking to get,” he said.
With two picks in the fifth round on Saturday, the Chiefs took defensive back Kendrick Lewis of Ole Miss and linebacker Cameron Sheffield of Troy.
Berry, just the sixth safety taken in the top five since 1970, fills the biggest single need of a team that finished 31st last year in total defense. As impressive as anything about the 6-foot, 211-pounder is the number of penalties he drew as a three-year starter in the Tennessee defensive secondary. There was one, for pass interference, when he was a freshman.
“It tells you that in watching him on tape, he’s willing to let loose but he’s also smart,” Pioli said. “He doesn’t make dumb mistakes … You go back to what we’re looking for – big, strong, fast, smart, tough, disciplined football players. Smart comes up on the radar when you see something like that.”
On Friday, the Chiefs also went after needs with Dexter McCluster, a wide receiver from Ole Miss, Javier Arenas, a defensive back from Alabama, Illinois guard Jon Asamoah and Iowa tight end Tony Moeaki.
Arenas had seven punt returns for touchdowns at Alabama, the second-most in NCAA history, and will no doubt be counted on to bolster a return game that was one of the weakest in the league.
“He also brings the obvious dynamic of being a good returner,” Pioli said. “He’s been a kick returner, he’s been a punt returner.”
A team that’s lost almost three of every four games the past three years probably has too many needs to address in just one draft. For the Chiefs, this meant linebacker, noseguard and offensive tackle.
But besides leadership and character, the Chiefs also pumped much-needed team speed into the franchise.
A lack of defensive team speed was a major fact in the team-record 286 yards rushing that Cleveland’s Jerome Harrison rolled up in a 41-34 victory last year in Kansas City.
“When we first got here, watching ourselves on tape in preseason games and in regular season games, something we thought we saw as a difference with the other teams we were playing was team speed – overall team speed,” Pioli said. “That was one thing we needed to improve.”
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