Chiefs’ McKenzie: It’s like learning football all over again
Chiefs sixth-round draft pick Kahlil McKenzie will devote his rookie season in the NFL to learning an old game in a new way.
When the Chiefs called his name in April and made him the 198th overall pick, he became the sixth defensive player selected by the team. However, there was one catch. After three seasons defeating blocks and clogging running lanes as a defensive lineman at the University of Tennessee, the Chiefs drafted him to open up holes as an offensive lineman.
The experiment started during minicamp for the affable 6-foot-3, 320-pound 21-year-old. Last week’s preseason opener against the Houston Texans marked his first time lining up as an offensive lineman against an opposing team since a high school scrimmage during his junior year in 2013.
“It’s like learning how to play football again,” McKenzie said. “So I mean, it’s kind of awesome. You get a new chance to learn football, learn how to play this game again. You kind of feel like a little kid every day. You approach every day with a little bit of excitement.”
The game itself couldn’t be more familiar to McKenzie. After all, he’s been around it since he was a little kid, and his bloodlines are rich with football.
His father, Reggie, played five seasons as a linebacker for the Raiders and San Francisco 49ers. He now serves as general manager of the rival Oakland Raiders. While McKenzie goes by his middle name, his full name is Reginald Kahlil McKenzie Jr.
Reggie’s twin brother, Raleigh, played 16 seasons as an offensive lineman for Washington, Philadelphia, San Diego and Green Bay. He now works on Oakland’s player personnel staff.
Still, all of McKenzie’s experiences and successes to this point had been on the defensive side. He earned high school All-America honors as a junior. Rate a five-star prospect by multiple recruiting websites, he won the defensive line MVP at The Opening in 2015.
In three collegiate seasons, he played in 31 games despite missing six games in 2016 with a pectoral injury. He finished his career with 72 tackles, three sacks, 5.5 tackles for a loss, two passes defended and one forced fumble.
McKenzie first started to hear rumblings about interest in him as an offensive player at the NFL Draft Combine. By the time of his pro day, a few teams — including the Chiefs — had expressed interest in having him go through offensive line drills.
He worked out at both positions for scouts and evaluators. While some teams were interested in him as a defensive player, according to McKenzie, he received positive feedback and encouragement on his offensive line work despite it being so new.
“It made you feel good after that, but going through it you’re just like, ‘I hope I’m doing this right,’” McKenzie said. “You’re just trying to watch the guys in front of you, really.”
After the Chiefs made it official that McKenzie’s days as a defensive player were over, he knew exactly where to turn for insight about the transition ahead.
“The first thing I did was call my uncle, that was the first thing I did,” McKenzie said. “After that it was just taking all information in he was kind of giving me, talking to (Chiefs offensive line coach Andy) Heck and the guys here about the different techniques and just trying to get the language down and the verbage and kind of the ideas about it before I even got here. Then at rookie minicamp, it was all just trying to make sure feet are right, learning technique, as Coach Heck calls it ‘time in the saddle.’”
A large part of the initial transition for McKenzie was training his body to react while on his heels more in his stance as an offensive player as opposed to on his toes as a defender. A lot of his uncle’s advice about being physical, staying low and keeping his feet underneath him have been echoed on a daily basis by Heck.
“I think he’s right on schedule,” Heck said. “This guy is built like an offensive lineman. He’s powerful. He’s competitive. There’s a lot of work that needs to be done there. All this time in the saddle, and (now you have) to kind of retrain yourself. I’ll say this, he’s improved every day, and I love the way he works.”
There’s no one teammate McKenzie imitates on the offensive line; instead, he tries to learn from each of them by watching and taking in any insight and tips offered. He’s also realized a big key will be finding what works best for him because the experienced linemen don’t all do things the same way.
“A great worker. And a real personable guy,” Chiefs guard Andrew Wylie said of McKenzie. “He’s learning the offense, and he’s very smart. When he puts his hands in the dirt he’s doing good things.”
Even in camp working largely with the third offense, it’s clear that McKenzie has the potential to be the sort of road-grader capable of creating movement at the point of attack in the run game and being stout enough to hold off pass rushers on the inside.
“I’m a big dude. I can anchor down,” McKenzie said. “I’m just trying not to be so upright. I think I’ve gotten a little bit better at that, just trying to really hunker down and not get so soft on things.
“Really you’re trying to be more confident. That’s really all it is, being more confident in whatever I have to do — even if I’m wrong. Just be confident in those steps so that I’m not just tippy-toeing into things.”
This story was originally published August 15, 2018 at 5:30 AM.