He's a poor-man's DJ.

Not DJ.

It's like comparing Sproles to Barry Sunders...

I don't have the ability to get small, but I've been known to get into a tight crack or two. Sign me up, coach.

Definitely not what I was trying to say. No one is DJ in his prime.

But his playing style is very similar, and he’s an upgrade over DJ from the last 2-3 years for certain...

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">A fun <a href="https://twitter.com/AnthonyHitchens?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AnthonyHitchens</a> stat for you:<br><br>Per <a href="https://twitter.com/PFF?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PFF</a>, Hitchens didn&#39;t miss a tackle last year. Zero. <a href="https://t.co/QQ5aZZLUOl">pic.twitter.com/QQ5aZZLUOl</a></p>&mdash; BJ Kissel (@ChiefsReporter) <a href="https://twitter.com/ChiefsReporter/status/974370985058201601?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 15, 2018</a></blockquote>
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That's not a fair comparison, as Hitchens is a MUCH better player than DJ was at the same age (25).

Hitchens best days are ahead of him.

And for a team that missed about 15 per game on average, that's a good thing.

Hitchens and Ragland will be the best combo of inside linebackers since when, the 80's? 70's?

We had linebackers in the 80's? Who knew

:D

Hitchens basically just said that when the Cowboys game planned for KC last year, they knew they couldn’t play man to man against their weapons.

If they couldn’t then, teams sure as hell can’t now.

And why would they after what PIT showed everyone. As long as Mahomes early on in his career can beat zone we are in good shape.

To be honest that was before DJ actually tried to be great.

I hope Hitchens surpasses DJ and Lanier

I hope Mahomes surpasses Dawson

I hope Watkins surpasses Otis Taylor

I hope Kareem surpasses everybody

I hope Kelce surpasses Gonzalez

I hope Fuller surpasses Emmet Thomas, Peters, Carter, etc.

Then we can party likes it's 1969

Hey may be more accomplished but less physically talented.

DJ was a damned freak that rarely let it out.


I'd agree on that...

That excites me. There's a lot of if's to hope for with the defense. But if Hitchens can be close to what DJ was, our defense is going to be much improved Just imagine. A healthy Berry, A healthy Houston rushing the passer, Jones continues to improve on the line, Dee Ford has another double digit sack season, Fuller is as advertised. Plug in a few holes in the draft. This defense is going to be a lot different than last year. Not top 5, but I'll take top 15 after last season. Couple that with how good our offense looks on paper. This season should be fun to watch. Unless you're an AFC West team not from Kansas City.

Tedy Bruschi was on Golic & Wingo this morning talking about Hitch & said the following:

“A great young linebacker versus the run, tone setter, hard hitter, good tackler, great leader. I was fired up to watch him last year.”

GARY SPANI, it's why I had #59 in HS/College

New article by Seth on Arrowhead Pride breaking down Hitchens' tape.

Thanks for the link!

Bruschi loves Hitchens. Talked glowingly of him during some film analysis on NFL Live just now.

Another quality pick-up by Veach. Even with no 1st round selection, this year's draft should still be pretty exciting.

This isn’t a good addition, it’s a great addition! Love it

If we can get a legit corner either in FA or draft and get a solid nose this d ain't lookin' so bad.

Elite O and solid D.

We can beat anyone with that combo.

That's a hell of an endorsement.

Hitchens missed zero tackles last year

Watkins had zero drops last year

Fuller was the #1 rated slot corner in the NFL last year.

Mahomes is a big upgrade over Smith

Amerson led the league in Passes defensed 2 years ago.

ALL these guys ar young and going into their prime.

Veach is absolutely killing it.

Best off season acquisition imo.

That’s a lot of ifs

True, but only a few "ifs" are needed to turn this into a formidable team

We're already better than last year

On offense your team appears to be better but on defense your team is still an unknown.

I recorded the Chiefs/Cowboys game. Gonna watch it and look for this guy.

Kareem had a very bad day that day. Thinking Hitchens is a big reason why.

You have ZERO elite young players, so sucks that you can't wish for them to bust out like we can.

Man I’m watching this game again and Hitchens was used to defend the TE in their zone. He was keeping up with Kelce. One play he was lined up against him in the slot.

His first run stuffing play on our first drive was him outmanuevering Kelce to get around him and tackle Hunt.

The guy is very athletic.

He was recruited to Iowa as a rb

I'm having a boar jizz relapse

Ragland/Hitchens will be the best ILB duo we’ve had in several years.

Gonna be awesome

What else did you see Run?

FYI, that Dallas/Chiefs game will be on NFLN March 30th

Hopping on Game Pass right now to do some tape eval on Hitch and Sammy.

Secondary should be better with Berry back and our LB core just added one of the top LBers from last year.

Ford will also be an improvement over Zombo.

Not sure how it's not improved already.

Watching DAL vs. LAC for familiarity purposes:

Hitchens appears to be a good blitzer. Disguises it well.

If Sutton doesn't **** them up.

Let’s see what they do at CB, S, DL and LG.

Lots of work to do, but already adding Hitch, Fuller and Watkins and getting Berry/Ware/Conley back will make a big difference.

The biggest difference is going to Mahomes.

NFLN is replaying it.
I know I set it record for the same reason.

That’s fair.

But, again, we finished 28th in total defense last year, so it’s not like there’s the potential for a lot of drop off. We traded Peters, cut a bunch of older overpriced veterans, traded for a young CB, signed a young LB and CB, and will be filling most of the remaining defensive holes through the draft. It’s kind of hard for me to imagine them getting that much worse just by going with younger, more athletic guys on defense.

But I guess we’ll see . . . . . .

Hitchens just gave Melvin Gordon a WWE style spine buster for a 1-yard gain. Has some tenacity to his game. He and Reggie will be one of the more physical duos in the league.

Biggest strength of his game is definitely avoiding blockers. Looks like linemen have a very hard time getting their hands on him.

On an unrelated note, Jaylon Smith looks like a real player.

Watching Watkins vs. Jacksonville now. Looks like they had Ramsey shadow him.

It’s early on but Watkins is getting open, a lot. Sometimes due to scheme but just as many times he’s simply winning the route.

Gonna be interesting to see what the Rams O looks like now without Watkins. If nothing else, he was an incredible decoy. Routes are extremely crisp and explosive, just doesn’t seem to get targeted much.

Mahomes is going to see a lot of zone this year.

That's the only way you can really play us.

A few things:

-a retread QB who played like a cuck.
-a preview of what most defenses will do to us next year aka rush 4 and play zone with the other 7 defenders.
-Kareem Hunt starting to get a nice rythm going and then Andy getting CTE and forgetting he existed.

If he can learn to pick it apart we should be good to go.

<a href="https://imgflip.com/gif/26m6h1"><img src="https://i.imgflip.com/26m6h1.gif" title="made at imgflip.com"/></a>

Not a great pic but there’s Hitchens lining up to cover Kelce.

If he even thinks about getting open, you know Pats gonna stick him

I watched two games, every passing play for LA. I was never a big Goff fan, and I walked away feeling no better about him.

It seemed like he has to visiby see guys open everytime before he threw. Really no anticipation going on there.

You can take my word on this—if Watkins had gotten the ball as much as he could have or should have just watching him run routes, he would have easily gotten 1000 yards. It just really looked to me like he was a glorified decoy used to get other players open or at least give them 1v1s.

He is. Whoever said we isn't is a ****ing idiot.

I was at that game last year. Was really cool to me that literally HALF THE CROWD were chiefs fans.

Need to add a big nt hopefully Jonathan Hankins to let Hitchens run free

The more I see and hear of AH - the sexier this pick was. I'm truly excited about him. RR and AH should compliment one another and eventually wreck shop.

Wonder how many tackles Anthony had that game?

1 tackle with 3 assists.

ty

We were God awful that game

Ragland and Hitchins should be a great duo. Athletic and hitters

Arrowhead Addict Article

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">They paid a hefty price, but so far the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Chiefs?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Chiefs</a> are all positive on what they see from LB Anthony Hitchens: <a href="https://t.co/Ffz5A8cvG9">https://t.co/Ffz5A8cvG9</a></p>&mdash; Arrowhead Addict (@ArrowheadAddict) <a href="https://twitter.com/ArrowheadAddict/status/1023923666319368193?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 30, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

yeah he's a critical addition - He w/ Fuller offset Peters' departure - as far as I'm concerned.

It's going to be strange not seeing 56 on the field. I always hoped he would end a Chief

He stayed 2 years too long. His football intelligence and willpower couldn’t beat back aging.

this guy hits like a cannon ball

I hope he has a pro-bowl year called him before we signed him as a guy I wanted it's in this thread somewhere

He seems nice.

One of my all-time favorites.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Anthony Hitchens is the guy who is really laying hits out here during the scrimmage. I love it so much.</p>&mdash; Seth Keysor (@RealMNchiefsfan) <a href="https://twitter.com/RealMNchiefsfan/status/1024672825876074496?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 1, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Awesome! Let's cause injuries in camp!
Posted via Mobile Device

This team has been soft as **** the last few years. This is desperately needed.

<iframe src="https://giphy.com/embed/oNTggpJCGjOhi" width="480" height="326" frameBorder="0" class="giphy-embed" allowFullScreen></iframe><p><a href="https://giphy.com/gifs/supernatural-dean-winchester-oNTggpJCGjOhi">via GIPHY</a></p>

DJ was a good player. However, I don't think he was ever a real nasty-hard-hitting-ass-kicking Linebacker. That just wasn't his style, and as the veteran leader of the front seven, maybe that filtered down. We'll see, but I like what I'm hearing.

While he was a more finesse, fluid player, also.......

https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chor...dj_SMASH.0.gif

https://thumbs.gfycat.com/CompleteEl...oa-max-1mb.gif

<img src="http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/1194380/dj6.gif">

<img src="http://cdn0.sbnation.com/assets/3916455/CHIEFONCHIEFVIOLENCE.gif">

<img src="https://i.pinimg.com/736x/de/60/95/de60956b7532d666a5279f4ecd693145.jpg" width=400>

Where’s the gif of DJ ending Forte’s season?

God, why'd you have to show this clip again. Still haunts me...foward momentum.... :banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead: