A wakeup call

May 08, 2008, 2:44:04 AM by Jonathan Rand - FAQ

Want to get a player breathing fire when he reports to training camp? Just use a high draft choice on a prospect who plays the same position.

For youngsters and veterans alike, there’s no wakeup call as loud or unsettling as the one that comes on draft day when they realize their jobs have been designated as positions of need. Some just pout. Many rise to the occasion.

Browns quarterback Derek Anderson was backing up Charlie Frye a year ago when all of Cleveland celebrated the first-round selection of quarterback Brady Quinn. Anderson dug in his heels, won the starting job and this offseason signed a three-year, $26 million contract. You don’t think being considered an afterthought lit a fire under him?

We should also expect a peak performance from the Raiders’ Justin Fargas, who rushed for 1,009 yards last year before he was injured in mid-December. By making Darren McFadden the fourth overall pick of last month’s draft, the Raiders told Fargas, and their other backs, that they want more of a game breaker in the backfield.

Which brings us to the Chiefs. By making defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey the fifth overall pick, they told Tank Tyler, a third-round pick in 2007, that they expect improvement at that spot.

Though the Chiefs didn’t draft a pass rusher until the seventh round, they sent that very message to defensive end Turk McBride, a second-round pick in 2007. Instead of handing him a starting role in the wake of the Jared Allen trade, they’ve switched tackle Alfonso Boone to end.

Such challenges should bring out the best in players. But sometimes they don’t. The Chiefs drafted four defensive tackles in the top three rounds between 2001 and 2004 but couldn’t get any of them to step up. If they brought out the best in each other, their best wasn’t good enough.

Coincidentally or not, the Chiefs saw a terrific year from a veteran running back when they added backfield depth with their first-round pick in 2003.

Nobody doubted Pro Bowl runner Priest Holmes’ work ethic, yet it had to get his attention when the Chiefs drafted Larry Johnson as insurance against Holmes failing to recover from a hip injury late in 2002. Holmes started every game in 2003 and rushed for 1,420 yards and 27 touchdowns.

It can’t escape the attention of Johnson, who’ll be trying to bounce back from a serious foot injury, or backup Kolby Smith, that the Chiefs drafted running back Jamaal Charles in the third round. Charles has the speed and hands of a third-down threat, which the Chiefs hoped Michael Bennett would become. The Chiefs lacked that dimension heading into the draft, though it’s doubtful Johnson and Smith would see it that way. Competition should be keen among the backs.

You could turn this argument around and suggest the Chiefs’ young wide receivers and offensive linemen might get complacent because the team didn’t really load up at those spots in the draft. But those players would be foolish not to make the most of opportunities they wouldn’t find in many other training camps.

And certainly they must realize there’s another draft next year.

The opinions offered in this column do not necessarily reflect those of the Kansas City Chiefs.

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A former sportswriter and columnist in Kansas City and Miami, Rand has covered the NFL for three decades and seen 23 Super Bowl games. His column appears twice weekly in-season.