Chiefs After the Combine ...

I hope everyone is enjoying their leap day (is that what it's actually called?) since it only comes around once every four years (bissextile according to Wikipedia). And while I wait for a lady to propose to me (that's what all women do on leap day right?), I thought I would catch up on some of the happenings and rumors about the Chiefs during and after the combine.

With most of the big names listening to that little devil on their shoulder (their agent) and choosing not to participate in many drills, I found the combine surprisingly uneventful. The parts of the combine that were worth mentioning, however, had little to do with the prospective players on the Indianapolis turf.

I know I'm about a day late and a dollar short on this one, but Romeo Crennel's comments at the combine not only captured the attention of the Kansas City media, but also created quite the firestorm of headlines nationwide. I'm sure most of you are familiar with what was said, but if you're not, Crennel responded to a question regarding the likelihood of the Chiefs pursuing the veteran quarterback Peyton Manning as such:

"Well, I'm not supposed to talk about anybody else's players. He's still a player with Indianapolis. But with a talent like that, I would be crazy not to consider it if he were available. All right? I'll leave it at that."

Although Crennel also commented on free agent Chad Henne, it was the above comments that caused many in the media to accuse Crennel of tampering. The tampering rules for the NFL are very broad and rarely enforced, but Crennel's comments, according to the writing of the rules, could have violated it: "Any public or private statement of interest, qualified or unqualified, in another club’s player to that player’s agent or representative, or to a member of the news media.”

Attention was drawn to it earlier in the week, with the NFL refusing to comment on the story and then rumors of the Colts not choosing to pursue the possible tampering claim.

Do I think that Crennel was trying to tamper? No. Do I think that Crennel was hinting that the Chiefs are interested in Peyton Manning? I hope so. Regardless, I am choosing to do a little tampering myself, and have started the #Pray4Pey campaign on Twitter. If you have a Twitter account and follow me (which you should), be sure to help spread the campaign across the twitterverse.

Now, for a little more news directly related to the combine performances, I wasn't especially blown away by any particular performance outside of Dontari Poe. A sub-5.0 forty yard dash and the most reps on the bench press (44) is incredibly impressive for a nose tackle. However, I'm not on board with the Chiefs drafting him in the first round. He didn't even dominate his competition in the Conference USA, and that is a telling sign.

Other positions I took notice of was offensive tackle and tight end. Mike Adams, OT from Ohio State, disappointed with only 19 reps on the bench, but I still think he would be a solid right tackle for the Chiefs. Riley Reiff (Iowa) impressed, but some analysts worry about his ability to play the right side, which is a concern since Branden Albert seems to be engrained at the left tackle position. But it's clear either of these guys would be better than Barry Richardson.

For tight end, I'm disappointed that Coby Fleener (Stanford) did not participate, since I wanted to see how he did without Andrew Luck throwing to him. Dwayne Allen (Clemson), Orson Charles (Georgia) and Ladarius Green (Louisiana-Lafayette) all impressed as many scouts believed they would, showing good ability to run routes and catch, but I was also impressed with three other tight ends.

Michael Egnew (Mizzou), James Hanna (Oklahoma) and Drake Dunsmore (Northwestern) all pleasantly surprised me. Having watched Egnew in college, we all know he could catch, having played in that spread offense, but he also put up 21 reps on bench (tied for 4th) and ran the third fastest time amongst TEs. Dunsmore put up the same number on the bench, ran two-hundredths of a second slower in the 40, and looked just as impressive and comfortable catching as any of the TE prospects. As for Hanna, he wasn't hyped going in to the combine, but actually put up the fastest time, with a 4.49 forty, put up 24 reps on the bench, and all-in-all, raised his draft stock significantly. In a copy-cat league, any of these guys would be good to pair with Tony Moeaki.