Post by lazarus on Aug 1, 2005 12:42:25 GMT -5
Posted on Mon, Aug. 01, 2005
R E L A T E D C O N T E N T
Joe Posnanski
R E L A T E D L I N K S
• Previous columns
Johnson has people excited
JOE POSNANSKI
RIVER FALLS, Wis. — You never know with rookies. Take Chiefs rookie punter Dustin Colquitt. Some days Colquitt booms the ball all over the practice field; watching him punt is like watching fireworks. Some days, he hits ’em high, he hits ’em far, he hits ’em with some sort of crazy spin that punt returner Dante Hall still has not quite figured out. Some days.
Other days, though, it looks like Colquitt is kicking a football piggy bank filled with pennies. The ball flops, drops, twists in the wind and then falls straight down like it was shot out of the sky. Some days he looks like a Pro Bowler. Some days he looks like a pro bowler, lowercase, and you want to send him back to the lanes to pick up 7-10 splits.
“He’s inconsistent but good,” is how Chiefs coach thingy Vermeil explains Colquitt. That’s a pretty bizarre thing to say about a punter. Consistency seems to be a fairly important part of the whole punting game. If he’s inconsistent how can he be good? If he’s good, how can he be inconsistent?
Then, that’s how it goes with rookies, though. Inconsistent but good. You just never know. That’s why it is dangerous to get too hyped up about Derrick Johnson.
It’s too late of course. Everybody’s hyped. The Chiefs are hyped. The fans are hyped. The media, the cheerleaders, the bloggers, the joggers, the cloggers, guys playing Frogger, the grounds crew, the zoo crew, Tony DiPardo and the Kansas City Chiefs band — we’re all hyped. Well, first of all everybody is hyped because Chiefs president/CEO/general manager/key grip Carl Peterson got Johnson signed in the first week of camp. Most people seemed to think the negotiation would last a little bit longer, like, into the next decade.
Even more, everybody is hyped because Johnson is some kind of talent. Vermeil took a few moments to talk about Johnson on Saturday — this was before Johnson signed — and it looked like Vermeil might break down in tears. He was that excited. No, it’s not exactly news to see Vermeil cry, but it would be news if he cried over a rookie who hasn’t played one game yet. Vermeil tends to save his tears for the veterans.
With Johnson, though, Vermeil held nothing back.
“This guy is a true impact player,” Vermeil said. “He’s a 250-pound guy who can run like a cornerback. I mean, this guy is fast. We could put him in the slot and have him cover a receiver one-on-one. It’s crazy. I’ve seen a lot of athletes, but I haven’t seen many like Derrick Johnson. We just need to get him here.”
“So he has a chance to be an impact player right away?” we asked.
“With his talent,” Vermeil said, “he could be anything he wants.”
Well, now Johnson is coming, and they’re popping champagne bottles all over River Falls, and we’re going to find out who was right and who was wrong about this guy.
Everything pointed to Derrick Johnson being a top-five pick in this year’s NFL draft. There were some who thought he was the best talent in the draft. He’s big, fast, and has the perfect linebacker body. He commands respect. He plays with joy. At Texas, he won just about every major award a college defensive player can win. He won the Butkus. He won the Nagurski. He won the Sensibaugh. He won the Manumaleuga. OK, I made those two up. But he would have won them. Johnson’s senior year, he made 130 tackles. He forced nine fumbles (an NCAA record). One scouting service called him “one of the finest pass defenders ever to play linebacker in college.”
In a league where great linebackers can make all the difference, there was no doubt that Johnson was going to be one of the first players picked in the draft.
And then: Whispers. The NFL is all about whispers. One coach goes to the 3-4 defense, and suddenly it’s a mad stampede, everybody’s playing the 3-4. So, at some point, a scout said Johnson did not take on blocks. And he told two friends. And they told two friends. And so on. And so on. And after a while, the story started to take on its own life.
Scout 1: I hear Johnson doesn’t take on blocks. Pass it on.
Scout 2: I hear Johnson likes to build with blocks. Pass it on.
Scout 3: I hear Johnson was in New Kids On The Block. Pass it on.
On and on this went. It is true that Johnson is not big about taking on blocks. He prefers to go around them. He prefers to slide by them. He would dig under them if the rules allowed it. There were certain plays in college apparently where Johnson would look pretty bad — he would turn his back, do the twist, electric slide, anything to avoid the blocker. NFL coaches generally don’t like that. They like linebackers who will take on the blocker, knock him out of the way, crush the ball carrier.
And so, Johnson began to fall. And fall. The Chiefs felt so sure that Johnson would not make it to the 15th pick, they did not even have him on their scouting board. Only Johnson kept falling. Won’t take on blocks. Falling. Won’t take on blocks.
And the Chiefs picked him.
Like that, the Chiefs had one of the extraordinary talents in the draft. Don’t kid yourself: There were people with the Chiefs who were worried about the whole “won’t take on blocks” situation too. The Chiefs are not immune to the whispers. But they felt like they had to take the chance, and Johnson came out to the off-season practices and was so amazing that Chiefs coaches kept looking at each other as if to say, “How did we get this guy?”
Of course, he’s a rookie. And you never know with rookies. Johnson hasn’t faced the bigger, stronger, faster NFL players. He hasn’t gone through the thingy Vermeil two-a-day practice schedule. There are a million questions to answer. And hey, maybe the other teams were right about him. Maybe his reluctance to take on blocks will prevent him from becoming a great defender.
Then again, the Chiefs coaches and players and general manager seem willing to take the chance. In fact, they seem to be awfully happy. They have that look on their faces, the one kids get when they’ve gotten away with something.
“There are a lot of ways to play linebacker,” Peterson said. “All I know about Derrick Johnson is he gets to the ball, and he makes the play. I don’t care how he gets there. I don’t think of any our fans care how he gets there. He makes plays. I’ve been around football for a long time. And that’s good enough for me.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To reach Joe Posnanski, call (816) 234-4361 or send e-mail to jposnanski@kcstar.com . For previous columns, go to KansasCity.com
R E L A T E D C O N T E N T
Joe Posnanski
R E L A T E D L I N K S
• Previous columns
Johnson has people excited
JOE POSNANSKI
RIVER FALLS, Wis. — You never know with rookies. Take Chiefs rookie punter Dustin Colquitt. Some days Colquitt booms the ball all over the practice field; watching him punt is like watching fireworks. Some days, he hits ’em high, he hits ’em far, he hits ’em with some sort of crazy spin that punt returner Dante Hall still has not quite figured out. Some days.
Other days, though, it looks like Colquitt is kicking a football piggy bank filled with pennies. The ball flops, drops, twists in the wind and then falls straight down like it was shot out of the sky. Some days he looks like a Pro Bowler. Some days he looks like a pro bowler, lowercase, and you want to send him back to the lanes to pick up 7-10 splits.
“He’s inconsistent but good,” is how Chiefs coach thingy Vermeil explains Colquitt. That’s a pretty bizarre thing to say about a punter. Consistency seems to be a fairly important part of the whole punting game. If he’s inconsistent how can he be good? If he’s good, how can he be inconsistent?
Then, that’s how it goes with rookies, though. Inconsistent but good. You just never know. That’s why it is dangerous to get too hyped up about Derrick Johnson.
It’s too late of course. Everybody’s hyped. The Chiefs are hyped. The fans are hyped. The media, the cheerleaders, the bloggers, the joggers, the cloggers, guys playing Frogger, the grounds crew, the zoo crew, Tony DiPardo and the Kansas City Chiefs band — we’re all hyped. Well, first of all everybody is hyped because Chiefs president/CEO/general manager/key grip Carl Peterson got Johnson signed in the first week of camp. Most people seemed to think the negotiation would last a little bit longer, like, into the next decade.
Even more, everybody is hyped because Johnson is some kind of talent. Vermeil took a few moments to talk about Johnson on Saturday — this was before Johnson signed — and it looked like Vermeil might break down in tears. He was that excited. No, it’s not exactly news to see Vermeil cry, but it would be news if he cried over a rookie who hasn’t played one game yet. Vermeil tends to save his tears for the veterans.
With Johnson, though, Vermeil held nothing back.
“This guy is a true impact player,” Vermeil said. “He’s a 250-pound guy who can run like a cornerback. I mean, this guy is fast. We could put him in the slot and have him cover a receiver one-on-one. It’s crazy. I’ve seen a lot of athletes, but I haven’t seen many like Derrick Johnson. We just need to get him here.”
“So he has a chance to be an impact player right away?” we asked.
“With his talent,” Vermeil said, “he could be anything he wants.”
Well, now Johnson is coming, and they’re popping champagne bottles all over River Falls, and we’re going to find out who was right and who was wrong about this guy.
Everything pointed to Derrick Johnson being a top-five pick in this year’s NFL draft. There were some who thought he was the best talent in the draft. He’s big, fast, and has the perfect linebacker body. He commands respect. He plays with joy. At Texas, he won just about every major award a college defensive player can win. He won the Butkus. He won the Nagurski. He won the Sensibaugh. He won the Manumaleuga. OK, I made those two up. But he would have won them. Johnson’s senior year, he made 130 tackles. He forced nine fumbles (an NCAA record). One scouting service called him “one of the finest pass defenders ever to play linebacker in college.”
In a league where great linebackers can make all the difference, there was no doubt that Johnson was going to be one of the first players picked in the draft.
And then: Whispers. The NFL is all about whispers. One coach goes to the 3-4 defense, and suddenly it’s a mad stampede, everybody’s playing the 3-4. So, at some point, a scout said Johnson did not take on blocks. And he told two friends. And they told two friends. And so on. And so on. And after a while, the story started to take on its own life.
Scout 1: I hear Johnson doesn’t take on blocks. Pass it on.
Scout 2: I hear Johnson likes to build with blocks. Pass it on.
Scout 3: I hear Johnson was in New Kids On The Block. Pass it on.
On and on this went. It is true that Johnson is not big about taking on blocks. He prefers to go around them. He prefers to slide by them. He would dig under them if the rules allowed it. There were certain plays in college apparently where Johnson would look pretty bad — he would turn his back, do the twist, electric slide, anything to avoid the blocker. NFL coaches generally don’t like that. They like linebackers who will take on the blocker, knock him out of the way, crush the ball carrier.
And so, Johnson began to fall. And fall. The Chiefs felt so sure that Johnson would not make it to the 15th pick, they did not even have him on their scouting board. Only Johnson kept falling. Won’t take on blocks. Falling. Won’t take on blocks.
And the Chiefs picked him.
Like that, the Chiefs had one of the extraordinary talents in the draft. Don’t kid yourself: There were people with the Chiefs who were worried about the whole “won’t take on blocks” situation too. The Chiefs are not immune to the whispers. But they felt like they had to take the chance, and Johnson came out to the off-season practices and was so amazing that Chiefs coaches kept looking at each other as if to say, “How did we get this guy?”
Of course, he’s a rookie. And you never know with rookies. Johnson hasn’t faced the bigger, stronger, faster NFL players. He hasn’t gone through the thingy Vermeil two-a-day practice schedule. There are a million questions to answer. And hey, maybe the other teams were right about him. Maybe his reluctance to take on blocks will prevent him from becoming a great defender.
Then again, the Chiefs coaches and players and general manager seem willing to take the chance. In fact, they seem to be awfully happy. They have that look on their faces, the one kids get when they’ve gotten away with something.
“There are a lot of ways to play linebacker,” Peterson said. “All I know about Derrick Johnson is he gets to the ball, and he makes the play. I don’t care how he gets there. I don’t think of any our fans care how he gets there. He makes plays. I’ve been around football for a long time. And that’s good enough for me.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To reach Joe Posnanski, call (816) 234-4361 or send e-mail to jposnanski@kcstar.com . For previous columns, go to KansasCity.com