Javier Arenas: 'It's a very, very good opportunity'

The Kansas City Chiefs unexpectedly cut Stanford Routt on Monday. For Javier Arenas, it was an open door.

The Chiefs made the surprise move in the secondary, which means the next man up philosophy in the NFL now falls on Arenas to step into it. The former Alabama product says that he's ready for it.

"That's not my job to look at and evaluate," said Arenas. "If it was, I wouldn't be playing the position I'm playing. They called me to go out there and start and start at corner. I'm excited about it, I'm ready to fulfill that opportunity. And that's the only thing I can worry about."

Arenas did say that he liked Routt as a player and teammate. It likely surprised the entire roster, but Arenas says he is simply focused on the things he can control.

"Great guy. Great teammate from my perspective," said Arenas when asked about Routt. "I talked to him, we were cool. We talked about adjustments, things like that. I liked him, I liked him a lot. Cool guy. I personally think he's a good football player. What's happened has happened and again, I have no type of control over that. I can just control what I do."

Until now, Arenas has largely found his value for the Chiefs on special teams while providing depth in the secondary. Now he stands across from Brandon Flowers trying to occupy the role that Brandon Carr once held for the long-term. The Chiefs will get their first chance as they face the Steelers offense, now under the control of Todd Haley.

"It's a very, very good opportunity," said Arenas. "I'm very excited about it. I'm going to go out there, like I told the guys before, I'm going to go out there and just compete, I'm going to do what I'm asked, I'm not going to go out of my way to try to do anything fancy, that's not the type of player I am. I'm a get-it-done type player. Whatever you ask me, I'm going to play that technique, I'm going to do that job and I'm going to have fun doing it."