Tackle McKenzie has football genes
INDIANAPOLIS — As Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie studies the defensive line prospects available in this year’s draft, there’s at least one for whom he won’t need any background.
That’s Kahlil McKenzie, a 6-foot-3, 320-pound tackle out of Tennessee. Reggie’s his dad.
In January, Kahlil announced he’d opted to forgo his senior college season and enter the NFL draft. The decision surprised some analysts, and made this year’s scouting combine a bit different for Reggie. One of the players he’s appraising is one he raised.
“He’s been around football all his life,” Reggie McKenzie said of Kahlil. “He’s walked through the halls at Lambeau (Field), he’s been on the practice field. It’s nothing new for him.
“But it’s new for me, to have to watch him on tape and evaluate him. And put him on the draft board. That’s a weird feeling.”
Reggie McKenzie worked for the Green Bay Packers from 1994 to 2012, advancing from scout to director of football operations. Kahlil, born in 1997, recalled Saturday that he grew up 10 minutes from Lambeau Field. As soon as he was old enough to walk home from school, Kahlil would stop by his dad’s office and pore over scouting materials.
“That’s how my love of football kind of started,” Kahlil said while addressing reporters at the combine. “I would just come in his office and, you know, take draft books, game day (programs). I’m memorizing guys’ height, weight, what they run the 40 in, hand size, wing span.
“My mom used to come home, and she’d be like, ‘Reginald, your son knows the whole game day front to back.’ We’d always just sit there talking about this guy, that guy. When I was in high school and everything, and he got the (Raiders’) GM job, I’m predicting who he might draft.”
The Raiders hired Reggie in January 2012. Kahlil played his junior season of high school football at De La Salle in 2013. He then transferred to Clayton Valley in Concord, but was ruled ineligible to play football his senior year. Still, he was considered a five-star recruit coming out of high school and one of the top defensive line prospects in the country.
Kahlil opted to attend Tennessee, where his father and uncle — Raleigh, now a Raiders scout — played linebacker and offensive lineman, respectively. He played in 13 games his freshman season with 24 tackles, but his sophomore season was cut short by a pectoral muscle injury. He returned to record 35 tackles in 11 games, including nine starts, last year.
On a recent conference call, NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock said “a lot of people were surprised” by McKenzie’s decision to declare early for the draft.
“Five-star recruit, pretty stout against the run. But right now there are more questions than answers about him,” Mayock said. “I’m guessing he’s going to come in and move pretty well because he’s got some movement skills. But, quite frankly, I was surprised he came out early.”
McKenzie said his decision “just came from being able to focus 100 percent on football, just feeling ready to come out, feeling ready to have an impact on the next level.” He said he discussed the move with his father, but it was ultimately his own.
“He’s really just a really big supporter,” Kahlil said of Reggie. “He likes to give a lot of advice — but he gives it when I ask for it. He’s one of those guys, he does not want to be overbearing. He’s just not that type of guy. He just wants to be there for me all the time.”
Kahlil said his father’s advice for the combine was: “Work hard, be humble through the whole process.” He’ll perform the gamut of physical drills Sunday and has otherwise “been meeting with a lot of teams.”
Does that include the Raiders?
“Just meeting with a lot of teams,” Kahlil said with a smile.
He added that in meetings so far, teams have treated him as Kahlil McKenzie, defensive tackle, not as Reggie McKenzie’s son.
“That’s what they’re getting,” he said. “They’re not getting my dad, they’re getting me.”
He might not face a more discerning eye, anyway, than his father’s. Reggie said he’s “absolutely” more critical when he watches tape of Kahlil than of other players.
“I’ve been critical of him ever since he was seven years old and started playing tackle football,” Reggie said. “I’ve always coached him from afar. I’ve never coached him (directly). I said I just couldn’t do it. I just watched him from afar and let him have fun. Now he’s trying to make a living out of it. So that’s pretty cool.”
Reggie might never have coached Kahlil, but he has the option of drafting him. Oakland has 11 picks in the April draft, including six in the sixth round. And the Raiders could use defensive line help.
Asked what characteristics he looks for at the position, Reggie McKenzie said the Raiders “want guys that can get off the ball, attack, play strong at the line of scrimmage. But when it’s time to get after the quarterback, we need to get up field and go.” How is Kahlil at that? “I told him he’d better work on it,” Reggie McKenzie said, smiling. “So, we’ll see. One thing he is — he’s big and strong. That’s for sure.”