McKenzie has fun with dad after Chiefs make pick
The Chiefs should have been quite familiar with their final selection in this year’s NFL draft. His dad calls the shots for their biggest rival.
The Chiefs traded up in the sixth round Saturday to select defensive tackle Kahlil McKenzie out of Tennessee and a former De La Salle player. His father is longtime NFL linebacker and current Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie, whose team has become one of the Chiefs’ biggest obstacles in the AFC West.
“I can’t wait to whip up on you twice this year, and the next year and the next year and the next year after that,” Kahlil said he told his father. “We’re a competitive family (by) nature. We compete in everything we do. This just adds one more ripple into that. We’re all excited for it. I’m excited to get to Kansas City and just help the Chiefs … whoop up on the Raiders (and) whoop
up on the rest of the NFL.”
McKenzie was a defensive lineman in college but the Chiefs said they would move him to guard.
Kahlil did some offensive line drills at his pro day at Tennessee at the request of some NFL teams, the Chiefs being one of them.
Chiefs area scout Pat Perduto laughed when asked whether he spent much time talking to the prospect’s pop, then conceded there was a chuckle in the draft room when the call was made.
TEXANS LIKE BAY AREA TALENT >> The Houston Texans used three of their eight picks on Bay Area collegians: Stanford safety Justin Reid (3rd round); Stanford defensive end Peter Kalambay (6th); and San Jose State defensive back Jermaine Kelly (7th) STANFORD TIGHT END GOES TO DALLAS >> Stanford tight end Dalton Schultz was chosen by the Dallas Cowboys in the fourth round of the draft. Schultz declared for the draft after a junior season in which he gained first-team all-conference accolades by blocking for star back Bryce Love and making 22 catches for 212 yards and three scores.
MILLEN NEEDS TRANSPLANT >> Matt Millen, a former linebacker for the Raiders and 49ers, and a broadcaster for Raiders’ exhibition games, is in need of a heart transplant, according to The Morning Call in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Millen played in college at Penn State.
Millen’s heart is operating at 30 percent of what it should be due to a condition called amyloidosis where an abnormal protein builds around the organs.
Millen first learned about the disease eight months ago, and had been experiencing bouts of chest pains and shortness of breath during a six-year span before the condition was identified.
COLTS KEEP LUCK, DESPITE OFFERS >> Owner Jim Irsay says the Indianapolis Colts turned down trade offers to acquire quarterback Andrew Luck. The Colts owner made the comments on the third and final day of draft weekend. While Irsay declined to say what team or teams actually made an offer to acquire Luck though he noted multiple offers included an “unprecedented” amount of picks that were “all No. 1s.”
Irsay says the reason the Colts declined all of the offers is because they are convinced he’s healthy. GRIFFIN JOINS BROTHER IN SEATTLE >> UCF star Shaquem Griffin could not have been drafted into a better situation. Griffin was selected with pick No. 141, early in the fifth round, to the Seattle Seahawks where he will play with his twin brother Shaquill Griffin.
Shaquem has his left hand amputated when he was a child and it has not stopped him from playing at a dominant level.
Griffin was the player everyone was hoping would get a shot in the NFL after being a star at UCF despite playing with just one hand. He was the American Athletic Conference defensive player of the year in 2016 and the MVP of UCF’s Peach Bowl victory against Auburn last season when the Knights went 13-0.
A groundswell of support got him an invitation to the scouting combine in Indianapolis, where he stunned onlookers by bench-pressing 225 pounds a staggering 20 times with a prosthetic left hand and then covered the 40-yard dash in 4.38 seconds.
EAGLES GO DOWN UNDER >> The Eagles traded up in the seventh round to select Australian rugby player Jordan Mailata with pick No. 233. Mailata, 6-foot-7, 346 pounds, is projected as an offensive tackle. He visited eight teams, including Philadelphia, and spent a lot of time with offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland.
The Eagles gave the New England Patriots pick No. 250 and a seventh-rounder next year to move up 17 spots.
COWBOYS TRADE FOR RAMS’ AUSTIN >> The Cowboys acquired receiver Tavon Austin from the Los Angeles Rams for a sixth-round pick in this year’s draft. It’s the second receiver-related move during the draft. Dallas drafted Michael Gallup in the third round.