Jon Asamoah, G, Illinois - Signed (4-years, $2.7M; ~$900,000 guaranteed). There's still an issue of a couple thousand dollars in the guaranteed money to work out. But apparently both sides have agreed in principle to the deal on the table.
Asamoah may be one of the more important draft picks for KC this year. Brian Waters is long in the tooth and Ryan Lilja isn't too far behind him. And with a weak depth chart, Asamoah will be called upon to produce early. He was the 2nd rated guard in the draft this year on several boards. A few of the talking heads predicted him going mid to late second, but fortunately for the Chiefs, he fell to the third.
A three year starter at Illinois, he has all the measurables you could want in a guard, has great numbers, played in the run-first Big Ten, and is known to have a nasty streak. Asamoah's numbers consistently improved each year but he was only able to garnish 2nd Team All Big Ten honors in his senior year.
His length makes him tough to beat in pass blocking. He tends to stand a little tall, but he has good balance and is able to compensate. He can be caught off guard by a strong first move, but it is rare to find a guy that can pull it off. He has good footwork and is agile enough to catch late blitzers.
As would be expected in what appears to be a run-first offense, Asamoah is a beast in the run game. He's an outstanding drive blocker that has shown the physicality and strength to push DTs and NTs out of the hole and turn them away. He gets low on the line and has good leverage. Not an exceptional blocker on the move. He tends to stay too tall and can get knocked around, but he has the strength and agility to recover.
It's always hard to judge linemen making the jump to the NFL, but the Big Ten is known for producing some hogs. Saw enough of him to hate while he was at Illinois, but I have no problem rooting for him now.
Predictions for this season: Rotational backup. Will get some opportunities to play at RG behind Ryan Lilja. Starter of the future.
Learn, discuss and debate what's going on with the teams in the NFL's AFC Western Division minus the hate, immaturity and stupidity found on the ESPN Blog or anywhere else.
No comments:
Post a Comment