Lions, cheetahs and Chiefs: Oh my! Tremon Smith is chasing Tyreek Hill

If Tyreek Hill is a cheetah, Tremon Smith figures he’s a lion.

The rookie cornerback, dubbed the second-fastest guy on the team by assistant head coach Dave Toub, knows he’s pretty fast, but he’s not quite Hill fast — yet.

“A lion is pretty fast,” Smith said after Thursday’s training camp practice. “Of course, it’s not a cheetah. I’m a little heavier. A lion is more dangerous, though.”

For the record, Google says a lion has a top speed of about 50 mph, while cheetahs top out at about 70 mph.

Five padded practices into his first training camp, the sixth-round pick is showing he’s plenty dangerous, both as a kick returner and a cornerback.

With his speed, Smith’s a top candidate to be the Chiefs’ kick returner, and he’s been running with the second-team defense as a cornerback.

“I’m curious to see how he does in the games, but he’s a talented kid,” coach Andy Reid said. “He does have returnability and he’s done a real nice job at the corner spot too, so that’s been a plus.”

Smith’s adjustment to the Chiefs from FBS program Central Arkansas hasn’t been easy, and he’s learning that speed doesn’t help with everything.

“(Cornerbacks coach Al Harris) said, ‘Can’t nobody run past you,’ so just slow down a little bit,” Smith said. “I tend to play a little fast.”

For Smith to adapt to the pro game, he needs to think first and then react.

“It’s just going through my zones when the receivers are running the routes,” he said. Knowing if I get an outside release learning what routes I can get from that, just basically playing smarter out there.”

Smith first recognized that he was pretty fast earlier this year, when he was preparing for his pro day with trainer Mo Wells in Baton Rouge.

Without any coaching or technique, Smith ran a 4.4 40-yard dash on his first try.

“(Wells) was just like, yeah, you’re definitely going to run a 4.3,” Smith said. “I got the technique down and that’s helping me a lot.”

Though he said he has lion speed right now, Smith added he wouldn’t mind passing Hill to claim another animal title.

“Of course,” he said, “I want to be labeled as a cheetah also.”

This story was originally published August 2, 2018 at 3:54 PM.