Talking Dontari Poe And More This Week On Chop Talk

This post is going to highlight just a few of the points that were made from the great guests on this weeks' episode of 'Chop Talk', a Kansas City Chiefs podcast from BJ Kissel and Matt Conner.

Nick Wright from 610 Sports Radio in Kansas City, Joel Thorman from Arrowhead Pride, and Field Yates, former Kansas City Chiefs scout and current writer for SB Nation and Bleacher Report had some great insight to the Chiefs draft and we're going to touch on a few of those points right here. If you want to listen to the show in its' entirety, follow this link to listen to the full show.

Nick Wright.

We can start to see some trends with what Pioli likes to do in the draft , and they're contrary to I think a lot of what people in the media, myself included, have said about the guy. I mean we've said he's risk averse, and maybe he's risk averse to big free agent contracts, but in the draft he has been a big time risk taker.

It's clear to me Scott Pioli with the Dontari Poe pick said to himself, I'm going big, I'm taking a big swing and maybe I miss. But I feel like he felt like he could not afford to pass on a guy that has the upside that Dontari Poe does. He said it and the evidence is there by the Eagles trade, that he had offers to trade back, something that almost with 100% consensus everyone in the Kansas City media, myself included, said that he would like to do and he opted against it. He said nope, this is the guy and can't even trade back three spots and risk losing out on him. I think we learned a lot more about Scott Pioli this draft.

At some point you gotta ask yourself, if the majority of Scott Pioli's picks we describe as not Scott Pioli-like, well maybe we have just been mis-describing him, which is something i think we've been doing.

The question is if he was not an impact player on tape going up against conference USA offensive lineman, how is he going to be an impact player in the NFL, going up against NFL lineman? As far as he can play in the nickel defense, he better be able to, you took the guy at No.11, you don't take a specialist at No. 11.

I think that where Scott Pioli has done well, and where they deserve a little swagger is that this is a Chiefs team that all of the sudden that you look at guys 2-40, and that's a pretty damn good team. The problem is that the 1 is Matt Cassel, and I think Scott Pioli is doing what he can to give Matt Cassel every chance to succeed and therefore the team every chance to succeed before he's in this position next year when he's actually, not just having to pay lip service to it, but actually to have to make the decision of "Am I moving on from this quarterback?"

Joel Thorman.

On DeCastro, the way I look at it is you can spend the 11th overall pick on DeCastro, who by all accounts is going to be the next great guard, or you can spend the 44th pick and get a guard who will be pretty good, maybe not elite like DeCastro, but 30 picks later. I kind of like that comparison, Jeff Allen, 4 year starter, and you got a pretty good idea on the player that you're getting. The bust factor would be really low.

For quarterback, there are definitely reasons to complain but you have to replace the guy you have with somebody better. Is a Kirk Cousins or a Brock Osweiler, are they that much better of a prospect than Ricky Stanzi? I guess I could see them potentially drafting one but in the 2nd or 3rd round, that's a pretty expensive pick for a take a quarterback that you're just not sure if he's going to play at all. If Cassel plays well then he doesn't play at all. But I agree with what Nick said earlier, I think this is the last 'Cassel is the man' year.

It seems like we just totally forgot about him that first year (Stanzi) and he was a never in consideration to play and I just took that as an indictment on his development. It will be kind of interesting to see if he's forced into any action this year, exactly how he plays because we still really have no idea and it's been a year.

It's so tough to tell with a 4th round pick (Wylie) if he'll legitimately get on the field. I would be surprised if he came in and was an impact player right away considering who's on the Chiefs offense. Where does he fit in when you have Bowe, Baldwin, Breaston, Moeaki, Hillis, Charles, it sounds kind of strange to say considering the Chiefs weren't good on offense last year. But they have a lot of weapons. I just don't see exactly where he fits, right away at least.

The Bowe thing I think is just getting started. It's going to be a long drawn-out thing. There's going to be a ton of drama involved so we'll see.

I'm so torn on this pick because I think in the first round in general, you want to get guys that aren't going to bust. And there's just a huge concern with Poe about that, but if he does work out, I mean that's arguably the most important piece of the defense. It is a huge deal if he works out. It was a huge need and you're not going to find another nose tackle like that on the market because those guys are just so hard to find so the draft is your best bet. From that standpoint I approve it.

You look around the league and teams with really good offensive lines are usually in the playoffs. And I think the Chiefs made a huge effort this off-season in a couple of spots to upgrade the offensive line. I think you're sitting in a pretty good position. Absolutely I think they could be a team up there with the Broncos at the top the AFC West. That said, I think going and winning several playoff games is a different story, I'm not sure if Cassel is the guy that's going to do that on a consistent basis but I'd love to be wrong.

I'm not sure if Nick mentioned this but 610 radio did a Kansas City media mock draft last week and I just wanted to point out that you guys are talking to the No. 1 overall pick. That team took a chance on a kid with a ton of potential, that's all I can say. ~ documented.

Field Yates.

From a raw, physical standpoint there might not be a more exceptional played in this draft, and I include the quarterbacks at the top of this draft. Dontari Poe has such an impressive skill-set no matter what way you slice it.

He (Poe) has enough pass rushing ability which stems from his explosive power to be, well two things, he can be a interior rusher on the sub defense like you mentioned in respect to Wallace Gilberry, but just a little perspective in terms of his versatility, people that I talked to, a couple of scouts, teams that were near were Poe was supposed to go (in the draft) were talking about Poe possibly playing end in a 3/4 scheme. They thought he had the skill-set to do that.

For some perspective he (Poe at combine) was 346 lbs, which was 148 lbs heavier than what Kendrick Lewis, a safety weighed in at the time. Dontari Poe ran just over a tenth-of-a-second slower than Kendrick Lewis. Which is just amazing to me to wrap my head around.

Something to keep in mind is that Dontari Poe is a guy that hasn't just been on teams' radar for the last few months since the combine, teams that due their due diligence have had this guy on their radar since probably a season or two ago. The physical traits are such that you can't help but notice. It's not like this guy was an overnight revelation.

I think something that you really don't know unless you're in the locker room or on the practice field everyday is that he (Gordon) probably had a role with that team that stretches further than what the numbers suggest. It's the dynamic that every team hopes to have. Veterans who can contribute to the growth and development of the rookies (Poe) and not just look at them as just competition for their jobs, but also understand that an important part of the teams' success is bringing those guys along quickly, and the quicker they can become veterans and trusted guys, the better for the team.

I could tell you guys a funny story. I was down in Foxboro covering Patriots draft and was chipping in with the team from ESPN Boston down there. And as you could imagine you don't necessarily root or cheer or get overly emotional with the pick but I kept saying to myself, how in the heck is Dequan Menzie still on the board and the picks kept coming by. When I heard his name called in the 5th round by the Chiefs I kind of jumped out of my seat a little bit and did a fist pump because I thought this guy was a second round talent.

I think he's a guy (Menzie) that Chiefs fans will quickly grow to like. He's a 5th round pick that could have been drafted a few rounds higher.

There were obviously some other very good points made during the show but these were just a few of them from each guest we had on the show.

Chop Talk airs live every Sunday night at 7pm CT.