Some draft pundits criticized defensive end Aldon Smith, taken No. 7 overall to the San Francisco 49ers, because he didn’t stay at Missouri for a third year to gain more experience before heading to the NFL. So how about a player who was possibly ready to play out of high school? Bill Parcells believes Jerrelle Powe was ready for just that.
That’s an anecdote that came from a recent interview SB Nation KC conducted with Wes Bunting, draft analyst for the National Football Post. We asked Bunting his take on every angle of the Chiefs draft and we’ll be posting those both today and the rest of this week. But it seems fitting to start with a sixth round choice who many Chiefs fans were hoping to land in KC:
I think Powe’s got the talent to start if he can keep his weight in check. If he can stay motivated to learn the playbook and stay in shape, those are the main concerns with him. He was a five-star kid coming out of high school and Bill Parcells said he was the only player he’s ever seen who was ready to play in the NFL coming out of high school.
So he’s a really talented guy. He’s an older prospect, but he’s a longer player. He lost some weight in college and I think he even got down to 310 and he wasn’t quite as good of an anchor player inside, but you saw his motor amp up. With the Chiefs, I like him more as a 320-330 player who can move off the football. I think if he can stay motivated, he can be the starting nose in KC.
While Ron Edwards has held the fort at the position, the Chiefs have lacked a dominant anchor in the middle since installing the 3-4. A sixth round pick seems more of a rotational choice, but as Bunting said, Powe’s potential could lead to bigger things.