With Dwayne Bowe holding out from Kansas City Chiefs training camp at this point, Jon Baldwin has become the focal point of the passing game as last year's first round choice and go-to target for Matt Cassel in practice. The team is going to need him to break out in 2012, not only to make good on the team's high investment but simply to help give Cassel a dynamic red zone target. The good news is that he's taking full advantage in practice so far.
Brian Daboll is the Chiefs new offensive coordinator and he says that he likes what he sees so far from Baldwin from the spring and the first few days of camp in St. Joseph.
"Jon has been doing a good job," said Daboll. "I think Nick Sirianni is doing a really good job with all the wideouts. They're taking to their coaching. I think that from a year one to a year two sometimes with any player historically that I've been around, you kind of make a little bit of a jump, and we're hoping to see that progress from Jon."
As for a question asking him to differentiate Baldwin's performance from others, Daboll would not go there. However he did complement the entire unit, even without Bowe's presence.
"I think that all the guys out there really are no different," said Daboll. "Jon is trying to bust his can and make the plays when they come his way and do what is being asked of him. So are Steve [Breaston] and [Dexter McCluster], [Terrance Copper] and all the young guys, so I hope [Jon] likes to take advantage of the opportunities he gets."
Baldwin had 21 catches for 254 yards and 1 touchdown last season.
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