Chiefs News and Notes: McCluster Out, New Defense

Dec 16, 2012; Oakland, CA, USA; Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Dexter McCluster (22) carries the ball against Oakland Raiders outside linebacker Philip Wheeler (52) during the first quarter at O.co Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

The Chiefs are continuing their third week of OTA’s today. Here is some of the news and notes surrounding the Chiefs.

DEXTER HURT

Last week Dexter McCluster went down with a hamstring injury but head coach Andy Reid said it was nothing and anticipated he would be back on the field after Memorial Day. Well, it’s after Memorial Day and McCluster is still out.

This isn’t necessarily a freak out injury but it does continue the pattern of McCluster not being able to stay healthy and cuts into the reps he needs in order to better understand the new offensive scheme. Hopefully McCluster can get back on the field sooner than later.

KNILE DAVIS RETURNING KICKS

After the trade of Javier Arenas to the Arizona Cardinals, the Chiefs lost not only their nickel back but also their primary kick and punt returner. While McCluster is expected to be the punt returner it looks like the kick return duties may be handed to third round draft pick Knile Davis.

Davis has excellent speed and power, especially when running between the tackles, which comes in handy in kickoff return situations. He’s not necessarily a shifty guy the way McCluster is but Davis is much tougher to bring down and has the breakaway speed to potentially return a few kicks for a touchdown.

Davis did not return kicks in college.

SUTTON MOVING THINGS AROUND

They may still be playing the 3-4 but it is going to look nothing like the 3-4 Chiefs fans have seen in the past. New defensive coordinator Bob Sutton plans on shifting fronts and sending a lot more pressure at the quarterback in hopes of increasing their 27 sacks total from last season.

Here is a little of what Sutton told Adam Teicher of the Kansas City Star:

"“That’s the M.O. of this system, to pressure the quarterback and make him feel uncomfortable, which is easy to say and hard to do,’’ Sutton said. “But we’ll continue down that road. You can’t give anybody in this league, especially the good quarterbacks, a steady diet of anything because they’ll usually figure it out. So you have to have some flexibility in what you do. There’s a lot of different ways that you can put pressure on the quarterback, whether it’s physical pressure or mental pressure, whatever. That’s the direction we’d like to head.’’"

Unlike years past, I believe Kansas City’s defense will end up producing a better pass rush because Sutton has a history of doing so with the Jets. Yes, Rex Ryan is in control of the defense in New York, but Sutton was a key part in teaching those techniques and the system. Bringing over some of the Ryan philosophies should help take advantage of the talent the Chiefs have on defense. Plus, Kansas City will have more people rushing the quarterback than just Houston and Hali. The more involved guys like Dontari Poe, Derrick Johnson, and Eric Berry can be in the pass rush, the better the defense will be next season.