Keep ****ing doubting Rishaw Johnson.

[Direckshun]

http://www.arrowheadpride.com/2014/3...-johnson-guard

Kansas City Chiefs G Rishaw Johnson impressed late last season
By Joel Thorman
on Mar 19 2014, 8:44a

Regular readers may have noticed that we recently posted an item on Chiefs safety Sanders Commings and whether he could end up being the answer at free safety. Right here we have another post wondering if an in-house player is the answer at a position of need.

The position is guard and the player is Rishaw Johnson.

As a refresher, Johnson was an SEC recruit at Ole Miss in 2008. He was there until 2010 when he was kicked off the team. He then went to California (PA). He joined the Seahawks in his first season in the NFL then came to Kansas City his second year. The league lists him at 6'3 and 313 pounds. Last year's starting guards are listed at 340 pounds (Geoff Scwhartz), 306 pounds (Jon Asamoah) and 305 pounds (Jon Asamoah).

Matt Conner included Johnson in our in-house players series earlier this year but I came across a couple more of items on Johnson that warrants another look-see.

Last week, I saw this from Lance Zierlein, sports talk radio host in Houston and football writer:

Lance Zierlein @LanceZierlein

@bkissel7 @Schottey Chiefs believe Rishaw is ready to take over. They LOVED how he played vs. SD at end of the year.

Johnson was among the Chiefs backups that played in Week 17 against the Chargers while the starters rested but a backup throughout the season. That caught my interest for obvious reasons being free agency week and all. If the Chiefs believe they possibly / maybe / could have a potential starting guard on the roster, they probably wouldn't go out and spend big money on a guard in free agency, right?

Terez A. Paylor @TerezPaylor

This is true. Did well vs SD RT @ArrowheadPride: Seems like a long shot but Chiefs do have an in-house option at OG http://sbn.to/1jxEmMw

But wait! There's more!

Schwartz, who is now with the Giants in New York, went on The Drive with Danny Parkins on 610 Sports on Tuesday. Danny asked him what the Chiefs have in the guys who were behind him on the Chiefs line last season.

"Rishaw played really well in the Chargers game," Schwartz said. "He's a guy that has a lot of talent and he really developed as the year went on. He's strong and explosive off the ball. Sometimes it takes guys a couple of years to get comfortable where they're playing in a game. He did a great job against the Chargers."

Another mention of the Chargers game ... interesting. This led me to asking Chiefs GM John Dorsey on our call yesterday how important that Week 17 game was for the coaching staff and front office, getting the youngsters a shot to play.

"Anytime you can get another opportunity to evaluate the players that don't get to contribute on a week-in, week-out basis, that's very helpful," Dorsey said. "What it does is it helps the coaching staff get a degree of comfort that those guys in the personnel department as they build this thing. That's what the communication between the coaches and the personnel staff does. It's always an advantage to get those guys to play and those guys showed very well on Week 17 of the NFL schedule."

Unfortunately, Dorsey wasn't giving us an in-depth scouting report on Johnson but he did say this: "He's going to come in here and he's going to compete. He's showed that he can play the game of football, and I'm just excited to see how much stride he has made here this year."

It's a long way to the season opener with more free agency and the 2014 NFL Draft to acquire more talent as well as evaluation opportunities such as OTAs and training camp to evaluate existing talent. Rishaw Johnson is one of those existing talents that is one to keep an eye on.

It's almost like the Sanders Commings situation. You have hopes that this guy can come in and take over the job next year. But he's probably too young and inexperienced to hand the job to him. Competition and veteran insurance (Jeff Linkenbach?) is needed.

My gut has been telling me for a while that the Chiefs first round pick will be an offensive lineman. That would obviously shake things up.

[TEX]

Originally Posted by Mr. Laz

many times when a new GM/HC come in they gut the thing and start over immediately. Apparently we are going to change it by attrition. Let all the guys from the previous administration leave via FA and draft replacements.

full 5-year plan mode

Flowers,Hali will be gone next year ... maybe Sean Smith too

DJ and Charles the next

apparently the goal is to do the changeover slowly enough to maintain 8-8 and during the process.

I'm so pissed i get even see straight when i think about it

I actually had a conversation with a buddy who is a Texan fan about this same thing last night.

[OnTheWarpath15]

Chase Daniel played well in the SD game as well, but I don't see anyone saying he should be starting in 2014.

[Messier]

Originally Posted by Mr. Laz

I'm glad somebody is happy with that current mediocre mode with are using.

I want some new FA players too. I'm just not that worried about the o-line.

[TEX]

Originally Posted by Messier

Oh, shut up.

Seriously dude, the only reason you wouldn't get the "o-line rebuild" take is because there's "something" wrong with your thought process or you just don't want to. I'm betting it's the latter. In which case you should be asking yourself, not others, why that is because only you know the answer..

[Mr. Laz]

Originally Posted by TEX

I actually had a conversation with a buddy who is a Texan fan about this same thing last night.

it's certainly what appears to be happening from the outside looking in

no point in giving Alex Smith a new contract now or rework any of the vets

just let them play out their contracts and move on ... draft to replace

The Peterson 5-year plan is alive and well

[TEX]

Originally Posted by OnTheWarpath58

Chase Daniel played well in the SD game as well, but I don't see anyone saying he should be starting in 2014.

Excellent point and the same one I'm trying to make regarding that ONE game. Thank you for at least trying to see it.

[Messier]

Originally Posted by TEX

Seriously dude, the only reason you wouldn't get the "o-line rebuild" take is because there's "something" wrong with your thought process or you just don't want to. I'm betting it's the latter...

The Chiefs are going into this season with the o-line of the last month of the season minus Schwartz. How is that rebuilt?

[Messier]

Originally Posted by TEX

Excellent point and the same one I'm trying to make regarding that ONE game. Thank you for at least trying to see it.

Again I'll ask. You totally against giving a young player, that showed a little promise a chance?

No, it's the Chiefs waving the white flag.

[Mr. Laz]

Originally Posted by Messier

I want some new FA players too. I'm just not that worried about the o-line.

it's not even about the Oline imo

It's about the entire 'feel' of the offseason


long and slow approach to running the team

we just traded two 2nd round draft picks for a QB just to maintain an average team while we rebuild.

[Direckshun]

Originally Posted by OnTheWarpath58

Chase Daniel played well in the SD game as well, but I don't see anyone saying he should be starting in 2014.

Apples and oranges, much?

[Titty Meat]

6-10

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by Mr. Laz

many times when a new GM/HC come in they gut the thing and start over immediately. Apparently we are going to change it by attrition. Let all the guys from the previous administration leave via FA and draft replacements.

full 5-year plan mode

Flowers,Hali will be gone next year ... maybe Sean Smith too

DJ and Charles the next

apparently the goal is to do the changeover slowly enough to maintain 8-8 and during the process.

I'm so pissed i get even see straight when i think about it

Because this team was poised to be a super bowl winner if they spent money? They are rebuilding while staying legitimately competitive. Anyone who thinks this team is doomed to be a lot worse than last year is overreacting.

[Mr. Laz]

Originally Posted by Messier

Again I'll ask. You totally against giving a young player, that showed a little promise a chance?

No, it's the Chiefs waving the white flag.

giving young players a chance is not the thing

during FA we ran a -5 nfl starters

We lost that talent, even if we do promote backups we still lost -5 in depth of total talent.

It's not like we lost a starter at one specific position to let a young guy play but added a starter somewhere else. Let Albert walk because we have a young guy ready ... fine. Take that money and put it to another position.

No ... we just let them all walk.

Even if we have the best draft in the history of drafts we are going to be hard pressed to do more than break even after losing 5 starters. We only have 6 draft picks so even if EVERY PICK is good we still end up with a +1.

rebuilding

[Mr. Laz]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

Because this team was poised to be a super bowl winner if they spent money? They are rebuilding while staying legitimately competitive. Anyone who thinks this team is doomed to be a lot worse than last year is overreacting.

8-8 is our goal ... w00t!!!

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by Mr. Laz

giving young players a chance is not the thing

during FA we ran a -5 nfl starters

We lost that talent, even if we do P romote backups we still lost -5 in depth of total talent.

It's not like we lost a starter at one specific position to let a young guy play but added a starter somewhere else. Let Albert walk because we have a young guy ready ... fine. Take that money and put it to another position.

No ... we just let them all walk.

Even if we have the best draft in the history of drafts we are going to be hard pressed to do more than break even after losing 5 starters. We only have 6 draft picks so even if EVERY PICK is good we still end up with a +1.

rebuilding

We let Albert walk because we lost him for a few games and saw no drop-off. The other guys were low positional value players. Even if we don't add a single new free agent or draft pick, we aren't going to see much drop off.

Jfc. It's not like we are shipping off jamaal Charles.