KANSAS CITY, Mo. — For the record, the guy everybody
keeps comparing to Wes Welker didn't ask for the number 83. Honest. Some
wise-apple gave it to him.
"I requested a number in the teens," wideout Devon Wylie explained
Friday afternoon, shortly after the Kansas City Chiefs wrapped up their first
day of rookie minicamp. "(It) wasn't necessarily my choice.
"It wasn't me. No, I've always been (the number) seven. I mean, I wore
seven in high school and an 18 once in college. I like single numbers and teen
numbers, but this number in the 80s, that was one of them (that) was available,
and they just gave it to me. So, (I'm) just rolling with it."
He does that. The dude rolls left. The dude rolls right. Mostly, he just rolls
to daylight. In his first practice as a Chief, the kid who wears No. 83 seemed
to be doing a pretty fair tribute to the Patriots star, the NFL's poster boy
for pint-sized slot receivers.
"I'm going to have to increase my speed in my own way, and I'm going to
have to harness it, keep my feet underneath me a lot better," noted Wylie,
a fourth-round selection out of Fresno State and one of four Kansas City draft
picks to agree to terms Friday. "I felt like I could have played a little
better. But I've got to play as fast as I can all the time in order to keep my
speed and use that as an edge."
Because the new Collective Bargaining Agreement doesn't allow contact during
minicamp, first impressions of the new faces were largely of the superficial
variety. First-round pick Dontari Poe, who was broken off from the group for
individual workout sessions, is a mountain on two legs. Second-round pick Jeff
Allen, a left tackle at the University of Illinois, appeared perfectly
comfortable at left guard. And Wylie? Wind him up, watch him burn.
"Well, he showed some pretty good quickness and things as far as catching
the ball," coach Romeo Crennel allowed. "What he was advertised as,
it showed.
"I mean, he has really good quickness and he runs pretty good routes. I
think he'll be able to get a step on defenders and have a chance to make
plays."
Several steps, if the resume translates. As with Poe, Wylie boosted his stock
big-time after a stellar showing at the NFL combine, running a 4.39 in the
40-yard-dash — he has been hand-timed at 4.27 in college — and bench-pressing
225 pounds 17 times.
No one who saw him up close during drills could argue with those numbers. Nor
were there any signs of the foot injury that forced Wylie, a disciple of
Chicago's Devin Hester, to take a medical redshirt year in 2010.
"It feels completely different — a lot faster, a lot more intense,"
Wylie said of his first dance with NFL competition. "Every detail is
extremely important. Just running around in my routes, I can already feel there
are more guys around me. There's less space. Everyone's catching on quicker.
And everyone out here is hungry."
Wylie's wants a bite of the action, too; other than Poe, the California native
is the Kansas City rookie that probably has the earliest shot at regular
playing time this fall. The Chiefs were so desperate for help at the inside
receiver spot last year that they signed Keary Colbert, who hadn't played in
the NFL for more than two seasons, to try to fill the gap. Throw in Dwayne
Bowe's contract dispute, and Wylie — nicknamed "Wiggles" by his
Fresno teammates — figures to get plenty of reps over the spring and summer.
"You definitely have to go as hard as you can. There is no real way of
pacing it," the rookie said. "You have to learn as much as you can in
this short time during this mini-camp. We have to get ready for the team
camp."
If Friday was any indication, pace won't be an issue. Like Welker, Wylie's got
a pair of talons for hands. Like Welker, the cat gets from zero to 60 in about
two seconds flat. And like Welker, he's a sawed-off little son of a gun — in
cleats, Wylie just about hits 5-foot-9.
"Part of my game is being elusive and quick, and being able to dodge
hitters," said Wylie, who caught 56 balls for 716 yards last season.
"That's the way I've been able to survive this far and been able to be
successful with the size that I have. And yeah, definitely, I feel like I can
play with this size of players."
Elusive is good. Elusive and cocky is even better.
