AFC Notes: Broncos, Chargers, Chiefs

Broncos

Broncos third-round TE Greg Dulcich believes the concepts he ran in college under former Eagles HC Chip Kelly helped prepare him to contribute immediately in the NFL.

“We were really running the stuff that [Kelly] was doing in Philly [with the Eagles, in college]. We were running a pro-level offense, and I think that’s what has been great about my process there and preparing me for the next level is that I’ve been doing it for four years.” he said via Broncos Wire.

• Broncos WR KJ Hamler reiterated that he’s “ahead of schedule” in his ACL recovery, and expects to be fully healthy for training camp and week 1. (Kyle Newman)
• Hamler said he had hip surgery as well as ACL surgery. (Mike Klis)

Chargers

• According to ESPN’s Field Yates, the Chargers also put in a claim on OL Wes Martin when he was waived by the Giants. The Jaguars had the higher priority, though. 

Chiefs

Chiefs HC Andy Reid is confident that receivers Mecole Hardman, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, and JuJu Smith-Schuster will do well as deep threats to make up for Tyreek Hill. 

“Yeah, well, teams were kind of taking that part and negating that anyways, just with the deep coverages that we were playing,” Reid said, via Pete Grathoff of the Kansas City Star. “So we were able to do some things underneath with Tyreek and the other guys. Kelce, obviously is a pretty good player, too. And Mecole Hardman, so we’ve got these guys coming back that can do that. We added Scantling and Juju in there, and both of those two are seasoned veteran players that are very productive.”

Reid pointed out that Smith-Schuster was highly productive prior to suffering a knee injury and insists that their offense will have a “little different flavor.”  

“Before JuJu got hurt, I mean, you’re talking about 1,400 yards a year (in 2018) with that guy. You just do it with a little different flavor. What we try to do, Colin, we try to take the player’s strengths and exploit them. And then whatever weaknesses they have, we try to teach them and coach them to turn those into strengths. And so that’s what we’ll do. It’s going to be a little different, but it’ll be different with the personalities of the kids that we have now. And they’ll write their own little story to this thing.”