from rotoworld:
Chiefs WR Lance Long is drawing comparisons to Wes Welker in Kansas City, notably from quarterback Matt Cassel who played with Welker in New England.
"He's a great slot receiver," Cassel said of Long. "He's got tremendous quickness, he gets in and out of his breaks well, he catches the ball, he's a tough guy." Clearly earning the trust of his quarterback as well as his head coach, Long is a savvy pickup this week in PPR leagues.
full article from kcchiefs.com:
Another quick learner has been WR Lance Long. After joining the Chiefs practice squad on September 16th, Long put in his work at practice before getting a call up to the "bigs"Â a day before the San Diego game (10/25). Long, however, had the advantage of already knowing Haley's offensive playbook from his time with the Chiefs head coach in Arizona.
"It was a huge advantage,"Â Long said. "I'd say about 80-85 percent of it I was already familiar with."Â
Just like Chambers and Wade, Long also impressed in his Chiefs debut. He had a pair of catches against the Chargers and came up just inches shy of what would have been the team's most impressive catch of the year on a diving play in the end zone. He ended up exiting that game early after getting a little loopy following a meeting with LB Tim Robbins on a crossing route over the middle. Long got another opportunity in Jacksonville last Sunday and ended up leading the team with eight receptions.
"Well there's a reason why he's on the field on Sunday,"Â Cassel said of Long. "Obviously the coaches noticed something and noticed that he had a spark and he's definitely got a great skill-set and a great skill level. He came out Sunday, he prepares hard, he works hard, he's diligent about what he does, and he came out and he performed. Anytime he gets open and I'm able to get him the ball, that's a good thing."Â
Not a bad first impression made from a player who owns just three games of NFL experience (one with Arizona, two with Kansas City). Cassel was so impressed by Long last weekend, he just couldn't help but go on about the first-year pro who spent his entire rookie season on Arizona's practice squad.
"He's a great slot receiver," Cassel said. "He's got tremendous quickness, he gets in and out of his breaks well, he catches the ball, he's a tough guy â€" he's not afraid to lay in a block on a linebacker or a safety. He's a great player and he's been helping us, there's no doubt about that."Â
Cassel knows a bit about what a great slot receiver looks like. He did, after all, play with WR Wes Welker in New England. Welker was on the receiving end of 111 footballs last year for the Patriots â€" just one short of his career-high 112 in 2007 when working under a full season with QB Tom Brady.
"You know, he's got a similar mentality in that he's a bulldog,"Â Cassel remarked with comparing Long's attributes with Welker's. "He just goes out there and he works hard. Like I said, he's a guy that you really do want to see in the slot in terms of his quickness and how he goes about his business. There are definitely some resemblances between Welker and Lance."Â
With eight catches in his first full game of duty out of the slot and Cassel drawing comparisons to his favorite target in New England, could we be seeing the beginning of Cassel's new favorite receiving target? It's obviously still way too early to tell.
One thing that isn't too early to tell, however, is Cassel's ability to connect with receivers despite short acclimation periods. There have been three such cases to study already in 2009.
