PFW

GM Scott Pioli showed when he drafted Tyson Jackson a year ago that he not only values safe selections, but that he prefers to build inside-out.  Bulaga is the safest tackle in this year’s draft, and Pioli could feel comfortable knowing exactly what he is getting with strong ties to the Kirk Ferentz-led Iowa program.

Shutdown Corner

The Chiefs need a lot of things, but line reinforcements are key.  Bulaga is tough, technically sound, and more people are coming around to the notion that he wouldn’t be a real reach in the top five.  His selection would allow the Chiefs to move Branden Albert inside or to right tackle.

This isn’t the first time the Chiefs have been tied to Bulaga, but I still have trouble coming around the idea.

In PFW’s scenario both Russell Okung and Berry were still available and on the other side of the head-to-head Berry and Jimmy Clausen (for trade purposes) are on the board.

I have yet to talk to someone that doesn’t think Berry is the best defensive player available after Ndamukong Suh and Gerald McCoy, a feeling that I completely agree with.  And if your defense was as bad as the Chiefs was last season is it possible to pass on Berry if he’s on the board?

Scott Pioli will no doubt continue to try and improve the offensive line, but Albert can more than handle playing on the left side and Ryan O’Callaghan showed real promise down the stretch on the right.  With the interior already poised to be better than last year with the additions of Casey Wiegmann and Ryan Lilja that will only help both tackles progress.

Quarterback R.J. Archer, safeties David Caldwell and Robert Livingston, defensive tackle Sean Lissemore, wide receiver D.J. McAulay, defensive end Adrian Tracy and tight end Rob Varno participated.  The players ran through drills traditionally featured at the NFL combine, including the 225-pound bench press, vertical leap, standing broad jump and 40-yard dash, as well as various quickness and position drills.

“I think David Caldwell had a heck of day.  He had been flying under the radar for a number of reasons, but he is just a physical specimen and he really performed well.”  Fellow senior Lissemore said.

Caldwell talked to several scouts Wednesday and said that representatives from the Kansas City Chiefs and the New England Patriots have expressed interest.

With 20 scouts present, the event featured the biggest turnout in recent memory, a fact players attribute to the successful NFL careers of several College alumni. William and Mary has graduated two Super Bowl winners: Pittsburgh Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin ’95 and New Orleans Saints safety Darren Sharper ’97. Derek Cox ’09 was a third-round draft pick by the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2009.

“When we have guys coming out and performing real well, it helps us,” Caldwell said.  “If Derek Cox hadn’t performed so well last year and made such an impact on the Jaguars, we wouldn’t have had as much attention on Adrian and Sean, and that gave players like myself an opportunity to go off of Adrian and Sean.  You just have to use whatever you can use when you come from a small school that’s not used to putting out big name prospects.”

Is Caldwell the next Darren Sharper?  Not likely, but he will be a guy to keep your eye on the hours following the draft, especially if he measured out at a legit 5-11.

He was a first team selection in his conference after leading William and Mary in tackles each of the past two seasons.  And if you don’t believe Caldwell’s teammate about him being a physical specimen, go check out the gallery from yesterday’s workout.  Being ripped doesn’t make someone worthy of the NFL (outside of Oakland) but he did get the job done on the field as well.

Fun fact from his W&M bio, Caldwell is related to Larry Doby.  Great bloodlines to have!

Mesko will work out for the Chiefs on March 26th, the Eagles on March 30th and the Patriots on April 14th or 15th; all workouts will be conducted at the University of Michigan.

After Michigan’s official Pro Day on March 12th concluded, Mesko worked out for the Indianapolis Colts and New York Jets.

A four-year starter at Michigan, the 6-foot-5, 240-pound Mesko, who is Romanian-born, averaged a career-high 44.5 yards per attempt this past season.  Mesko ranks second in school history with a 42.5-yard average, and he got stronger and improved his distance and hangtime every year.

You can file this under “covering all your bases”.  There are a lot of spots that will be up for grabs between now and training camp, but neither kicking position will be among them.

If something happened with Dustin Colquitt, Mesko would be a name to remember.  With all of the talk this week about Tim Tebow changing his mechanics, Mesko was forced to change everything he ever knew about punting when Rich Rodriguez was hired.  All he did was increase his punting average his two years playing for the new Wolverines coach.  On top of that he was a first-team Academic All-American.

Not likely to ever be a Chief, but I suppose you can never be too prepared.

The signing of former Indianapolis guard Ryan Lilja was the final straw for me.  Pioli is starting to live up to his reputation.

Lilja’s signing means next to nothing around the league.  After five productive seasons, the Colts let Lilja walk because they mistakenly believe they need a 310-pounder at guard to run the ball more effectively.  Fine.  Their mistake is our gain.

The kid can play at a high level.  Getting Lilja for $7.5 million over three years — peanuts — is the best free-agent signing of the offseason by any team.  He’ll be a starter in Kansas City for the next six years and maybe longer.

You add Lilja to Brian Waters and Casey Wiegmann, whom the Chiefs re-signed from Denver, and the foundation of the organization has been repaired.  Matt Cassel has a pocket to step up in.  The Chiefs will be effective in short-yardage running situations.

[Thomas] Jones’ role on this team reminds me of the role Marcus Allen played here during the mid-1990s.  Allen was the veteran leader who ran for all the tough yards and commanded the respect of everyone in the locker room.  Of course, Jones doesn’t have Allen’s résumé.  That’s fine.  Few people have Allen’s résumé.

Jones, Lilja and Wiegmann give the Chiefs a personality.  The Chiefs are going to be old-school tough.  The idiots are going to get chin-checked … and not by Todd Haley.

Once I realized it wasn’t an April Fools’ column, I was pleasantly surprised by Whitlock’s take on the offseason.  Not that the team, fans or anyone else needs approval from him, but it’s a welcoming sign that an influential columnist isn’t always going to blindly hate everything Pioli and Haley do.

At times last year I kept waiting for a story from Whitlock about how pompous Pioli was for suggesting the sky was blue as if he created the heavens.  We could still see that during the 2010 season, but for now I’ll take what I can get.

Defensive tackle Malcolm Bennett, quarterback Armanti Edwards, tight end Tim Frye, defensive back Cortez Gilbert, linebacker Jacque Roman and defensive tackle Anthony Williams worked out for representatives of 10 NFL teams in attendance at the Appalachian Athletics Center, Sofield Family Indoor Practice Facility and Kidd Brewer Stadium. The Baltimore Ravens, Buffalo Bills, Carolina Panthers, Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions, Jacksonville Jaguars, Kansas City Chiefs, Philadelphia Eagles, Pittsburgh Steelers and Washington Redskins were the NFL teams on hand to evaluate the former Mountaineers.

Edwards, the only two-time winner of the Walter Payton Award (given to the nation’s top NCAA Division I FCS player) and the first player in Division I history (FCS or FBS) to pass for 10,000 yards and rush for 4,000 yards in a career, drew the most attention from the scouts and the multitude of media outlets on hand for a post-workout press conference with the prospects.  In addition to the standard “combine” drills, Edwards participated in on-field activities at quarterback, wide receiver and punt returner during his first full workout for pro scouts.  A minor hamstring injury limited him to only throwing drills at the NFL Scouting Combine last month in Indianapolis.

According to him and ASU director of strength and conditioning Mike Kent, Edwards ran the 40-yard dash in the range of 4.4 seconds, attained a 34.5-inch vertical jump and lifted 225 pounds 13 times.  The various results compiled by the NFL teams in attendance for their respective organizations’ scouting efforts are not available.

Edwards told the assembled media that he is willing to play any position in the NFL and that teams continue to show interest in him at both quarterback and wide receiver.  He also did not share a preference for any specific organization to be his future employer, stating candidly (and humorously) that “beggars can’t be choosers.”

He is the definition of “project”, but I love the idea of Edwards being drafted by the Chiefs.  I’m still undecided if he has the chops to be a quarterback at this level, but I am confident that he has the talent to help somewhere on the field.  I can only imagine what Todd Haley and Charlie Weis would be able to do with his versatility once he catches up to the speed of the NFL.

Other than his size (5-11) one of the bigger knocks on Edwards was that he didn’t have top end speed, which he may have put to rest if the majority of teams clocked his 40 under 4.5.

With someone like Edwards it’s almost impossible to get a read on where his draft stock is right now, but I would have no problem if Scott Pioli used the Chiefs third and final pick in the fifth round to bring in the former Mountaineer.

Russell spent the past month or so working out at a training facility in Arizona, according to director of squad development Willie Brown.  Two players confirmed that Russell has been working out in the Phoenix area.

Brown said in an interview on Comcast Sports on Monday night that Russell was absent Monday so that he could complete the purchase of a home in Alabama.

“You’ll be surprised when you see him,” Brown told Raiders play-by-play announcer Greg Papa on Comcast Sports.  “It’s quite a bit of weight that he’s lost. … I don’t want to pin it down and say how much he lost, but it will be a significant difference when you see him compared with last year.  The most important thing is he’s getting in shape.  Not only losing weight but getting in shape.”

Brown said Russell learned from things he endured last year and that he is eating prepared meals, working out and doing the things asked of him by the Raiders.  A former Raiders player has been assigned to watch over Russell, as well.

So a 24-hour babysitter has helped Russell look less like an offensive lineman and instead something closer to a tight end.  When the Raiders have their first mini-camp after the draft, he just might look like a real quarterback.  The bigger question will be if he can play like one.

Even though he possesses a cannon for an arm, losing a few pounds isn’t going to mean he all of a sudden will know how to use it.  If he can come into training camp and beat out the immortal Bruce Gradkowski then I might worry about Oakland finally cracking the JaMarcus Russell code.

5. Eric Berry – S, Tennessee

With both of the top quarterbacks getting pushed up into the top four, the Chiefs really get lucky in this scenario.  They get to choose between Berry and Okung, the draft’s premier offensive tackle.  They could use either player, but the pool of talent in this draft is deeper at tackle than safety, so it makes sense to take Berry and try to get their OT in the second round.  Even if it means Branden Albert remains at left tackle for the time being, with the draft pick manning the right side.

King is certainly more connected around the league than I am, but if Berry is still on the board when the Chiefs pick I don’t understand how he isn’t destined for Kansas City.  Safety is the biggest need for a defense that was horrid for long stretches last season and Berry is one of the best at the position in the past three drafts.  He is the type of guy that you don’t get a chance to sign in free agency, so you have to be lucky enough to be in a position to draft him.

Todd Haley has to worry about keeping Matt Cassel upright, but it will be a much easier task with an already improved offensive line and a full season with a real running game.

I feel confident saying that the Chiefs will be better off with Albert-Waters-Wiegmann-Lilja-O’Callaghan and Berry leading the secondary than drafting a young tackle and trying to hold the defense together with a stop-gap at safety.

New Redskins running back Larry Johnson received some interesting words of encouragement from his first two head coaches in the NFL, Dick Vermeil and Herm Edwards.

“He will take over the running back position,” said Dick Vermeil, who coached Johnson in Kansas City from 2003 to ‘05.  “That’s what I think.  He’ll push that guy right out of a job.  Larry Johnson will work all week — he’ll work Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday — and he’ll make you start him on Sundays.”

Though Johnson was often a chief source of headaches, two of his former Kansas City coaches sang his praises this week, both dismissing the notion that at 30, Johnson is no longer an effective NFL running back.  In fact, both see favorable circumstances in Washington that could help Johnson return to Pro Bowl form.

“His back is against the wall, and for him, that’s when he’s at his best,” said Herman Edwards, who coached in Kansas City from 2006 to ‘08.  “Most people think he’s done, he’s finished, he’s too old.  That actually helps him.  He wants to prove people wrong.  This is his third team in two years, he knows this could be it.  You don’t need more incentive than that.”

“I think they got a great steal in this guy,” Vermeil said.  “If they have any sort of offensive line, I really believe he’ll be the starting running back there, and he’ll do very well.  If anyone thinks it’s some union job and a guy gets to start just because he’s the incumbent, nuh-uh.  Larry will make him work.  [Portis] will have to fight to even hope to keep his job.”

“This was a very productive guy who didn’t handle himself right with all of his actions off the field,” said Edwards, now an analyst for ESPN.  “He’s not a bad guy, not a bad locker room guy.  He’s good around the other players but often put himself in the wrong place at the right time, if that makes sense.”

“I’ve never seen a kid compete so hard to prove that he’s as good as the starter,” Vermeil said.  “And if that starter isn’t the Priest Holmes-type who will match the effort every single day, Larry Johnson will take his job.  I don’t know that much about Clinton Portis, but I know what Larry was like.  He ran mean.  In practices, he ran like he just plain didn’t like his teammates.”

Maybe he ran like that in practice because he didn’t like his teammates.  Or coaches.  Or both.

Either way, it’s interesting to hear Vermeil of all people lay out such a wide-ranging endorsement of LJ.  Herm was always a players-coach so I’m not shocked to see him come to Johnson’s defense.  But Vermeil?  The man didn’t want to draft LJ in the first place and then when he was on the roster he publicly challenged him every chance he got.

You won’t find someone more open minded to second (or third, or fourth) chances, but Johnson did show me anything last season before or after his release to indicate he has anything left in the tank.

The Kansas City Chiefs have signed former Indianapolis Colts G Ryan Lilja.

In his final three years at Notre Dame, Quinn won 25-of-37 games for what recently has become the funniest program on NBC this side of “30 Rock.”

In the three years since Quinn has been gone, the Fighting Irish have gone 16-21, despite the presence of quarterback Jimmy Clausen, who, for reasons understood only by Mel Kiper, is somehow projected as a top-10 pick in the NFL draft.

As an 18-year-old, Quinn made his first start for the Irish at Purdue, where the nationally ranked Boilermakers were led by Orton.  That was way back in 2003.  But the personalities and styles of the two quarterbacks haven’t changed much.

Quinn chucked the football 59 times for 297 yards and four interceptions.  Orton was a young game-manager in training, passing for 127 yards on 12 attempts in a Purdue victory.

Seven years later, Quinn should beat Orton when the stakes are much higher: Two quarterbacks.  One NFL starting job.

It is true that Quinn has not done anything worth talking about in the NFL.

When did he get the chance, though?  If the Browns weren’t letting Quinn rot on the bench, they used him primarily as a scapegoat, whereas a smart franchise might have concentrated on the development of a first-round draft choice.

I asked Quinn what he has learned in three years of hard knocks as a pro.

“You’ve got to be flexible,” he replied.  “You’ve got to be a jack of all trades and not just a one-trick pony.”

Quinn won’t make anybody forget John Elway.

But the new quarterback in town gives McDaniels the chance to think forward instead of run from the past.

Rather than being known as the impetuous coach who threw Cutler to the curb, McDaniels now can become the miracle worker who rescued Quinn from the dumpster.

There’s no denying that the Broncos brought in a QB with plenty of talent, but do they have the right coach to bring that talent out?  Quinn never had a chance in Cleveland and while there might be a “competition”, this job will end up with the former Notre Dame signal caller the same way Cassel was always going to be the starter in Kansas City.

Kyle Orton has done nothing but win football games as a starter (29-18) but he lacks that “star factor”, something Quinn has always possessed.  The one thing Quinn brings to Denver is name recognition and a top notch pedigree.

Will that lead to the Broncos finally uncovering their long term answer at quarterback?  We should know the answer to that question by the middle of the 2010 season.