NFL GridIron Gab Daily Digest

Now that the Houston Texans' minicamps are over, the coaching staff are reviewing their players, especially their young ones.  Whether its building on first impressions or making new ones, young players must set themselves apart from the competition in order to stick a job come September 5's 53-man roster deadline.

On Wednesday at the end of minicamps, head coach Gary Kubiak looks forward to the young players

At the end of minicamps, head coach Gary Kubiak told the press that he looks forward to seeing the young players interact with the team's consistent physicality.

"The guys that we've had, you know who are physical players," Kubiak said. "The new faces, you don't know until you actually put the pads on, and it changes when you put all that gear on. We'll probably have to do it more this summer than we have in the past because we have so many key issues to find out. So we'll probably be in pads a little bit more than we have in the past."

Here's a few young players that the press has shined a spotlight on:

1) Malcolm Sheppard, undrafted rookie free agent DT. The Post-Searchlight reported that the undrafted rookie, and Georgia-Bainbridge High/University of Arkansas defensive tackle, Malcolm Sheppard has received an invitation to join the Texans at training camps.  At Arkansas, the 6?2?, 280lb defensive tackle received All-SEC second defense team honors twice.  Going undrafted, he chose the Texans over other free agent offers.  At OTA's and during minicamps, he has impressed:

"Probably the young kid who has surprised me the most through OTAs (organized team activty days) and everything has been this Sheppard kid that we got from Arkansas," Kubiak told the media after the team's final minicamp practice on Wednesday. "I'm not trying to put pressure on him or anything, but he's been a very pleasant surprise."

This is good news for the Texans who still need to improve on their defensive front.  Hopefully his past successes will translate well onto the NFL playing field.

2) Dorin Dickerson, seventh round draft pick WR.  The Houston Chronicle's Richard Justice reported that Dorin Dickerson is an athlete that the Texans want to mold.  His college career at Pitt started with a year at wide receiver, followed by time at fullback, at linebacker, before playing at tight end as a senior.  At the combine, the 6?4? athlete ran a 4.40 4o-yard dash and had a 43.5-inch vertical jump.  For the Texans, they see his potential and want to mold his talent.

"I like what I've seen," Kubiak said. "His conditioning level is not good enough to play at our level right now. I don't think that's his fault. We're trying to catch him up. He's got a big body like Andre. He's got a little stiffness we've got to work through. I think that comes from not playing the position for a long time."

Those are powerful words coming from the head coach, so it will be interesting to see what Texans fourth-year wide receiver coach Larry Kirksey can do with the Dickerson.

3) Shelley Smith, sixth round draft pick OG. The Houston Chronicle reported that the Houston Texans and rookie Shelley Smith have agreed to a four-year contract.  Smith told me he was good friends with Gary Kubiak's son, Klint, at Colorado State.  Possibly, this made an impact on the team's drafting of Smith, who the Chronicle's Jerome Solomon has no hope in.  However, its more likely that the team took Smith in the sixth round because he was a three year starter and captain at CSU.  Additionally, he's humble and Kubiak thinks highly of him as a backup:

(On Shelley Smith at the Touchdown Club's Texans Day) "One of the quickest interior linemen we've had here.  He will push Studdard and Caldwell and those guys."

Texans Waive Seven. Besides veteran tight end Michael Gaines, the Chronicle reported that the Texans released six undrafted free agent players this week: offensive tackle Adam Ulatoski, receiver London Crawford, quarterback Tyler Sheehan, guard Kristian Matte, linebacker Will Patterson and fullback Jack Corcoran.  On the other side, the Texans signed veteran fullback Justin Griffith, receiver Bobby Williams and tight end Derick Fine.

The Kansas City Star had a pretty typical NFL story that shows up in June – a piece about the 2010 Chiefs' draftees and their first exposure to the NFL world. It's the standard fluff piece, but about what you can expect this time of the year. By "standard", I mean you can count on the following things:

* The rookies saying things like "I just want to go out and compete" or "I want to come in and work hard and try to do my best".

* The coaches saying "They looked good" and "(Player's name) showed some real flashes out there".

But what is more interesting about this story is that the Chiefs seem prepared to start two (maybe three) rookies on defense: safety Eric Berry, cornerback Javier Arenas (but he will most likely be the nickel back), and possibly safety Kendrick Lewis. Lewis will most likely get the nod to start because:

1.) He's not Jon McGraw
2.) Jarrad Page has forgotten the Chiefs don't play the Oakland Raiders 16 times this year, thus making him a 51% asset/49% liability on the defense.

Yikes – THREE rookies? All in the defensive backfield? Now – I think Brandon Flowers is one of the top cornerbacks in the AFC (behind Darrelle Revis and Nnamdi Asomugha), and I'm convinced Brandon Carr is better than he showed last year. But – that is still a little concerning to think that three rookies will be responsible for shutting down Peyton Manning in week four.

However, I also like the idea of throwing the kids out there right away. Let's take the training wheels off and see what happens. Also – who would you rather see on Sundays: Berry or McGraw? Arenas or Maurice Leggett? Lewis or the corpse of Mike Brown? Me too.  The growing pains will be significant, but consider this.

The 2010 Chiefs may play the worst collection of NFL quarterbacks in recent memory.  Look at this list:

• Peyton Manning (ok, he's good)
• Phillip Rivers twice (so is he, but bear with me)
• Either Colt McCoy or Jake Delhomme for Cleveland (featuring the 32nd ranked passing attack in 2009)
• David Carr or Alex Smith (San Francisco)
• Matt Schaub (Houston)
• Trent Edwards or Ryan Fitzpatrick (Buffalo
• David Garrard (Jacksonville)
• Bruce Gradowski or Jason Campbell twice (Oakland)
• Kyle Orton or (please God, please let this happen) Tim Tebow twice when we play Denver
• Matt Leinhart (Arizona)
• Matt Hasselbeck and his ruptured C-4 (Seattle)
• Sam Bradford (St. Louis)
• Vince Young (who we may be able to shake with a quick trip to Bazooka's)

Wow – that is a fantastic collection of suck right there.  This may be the perfect opportunity for our defensive rookies to get their initial exposure to the NFL, but not to the point where they get their confidence shaken and shattered.  I feel that defensive rookies are ahead of the offensive kids, simply because they have to read and react.  Starting three rookies isn't ideal – but for the Chiefs in 2010, it might be the best case scenario for 2011 and beyond.