Baldwin Interview

http://www.nationalfootballauthority...aldwin-is.html



When the Kansas City Chiefs selected Jon Baldwin with the 26th pick of the 2011 NFL Draft, many-a jaw hit the floor. After a season where the wide receiver's numbers were down at Pitt, Baldwin was predicted to fall somewhere in the middle of the second round.

There was something about Baldwin's 6'4" frame that made Kansas City swoop in and grab the Pitt Panther earlier than expected.

Just because Baldwin might have been considered a stretch by draft critics, does not mean he cannot can make immediate contributions to a growing Chiefs organization.

"I can't really control what other people think about me, all I can do is keep my faith and just work as hard as I can," Baldwin said, when I interviewed him last week.

Baldwin was a beast in the Big East, during his three-year tenure at Pitt. His size and physicality enabled him to overpower smaller defensive backs when playing "jump ball" on vertical routes. His 4.49-40-yard-dash at the NFL Combine showed he has speed to go with that big frame to get past quicker opponents.

During his three years as a Panther, Baldwin hauled in 128 receptions for 2,337 yards and 16 touchdowns.

Baldwin expects that his time at Pitt can help pay off at the next level.

"The biggest thing that translates and will help a lot is coming from a pro offense," said Baldwin. "Learning the playbook is kind of easy because in the pro-style a lot of the terminology is the same."

Baldwin is hoping that his translation into the league will be as smooth as his new teammate Dwayne Bowe's was when he entered the league four years ago.

"Dwayne was a very successful player coming into this league," Baldwin commented, of his teammate. "I'm going to try to get some advice to see some of the things he did when he was an up-and-coming player his rookie year."

Much like Bowe, Baldwin will have his chance to shine in Coach Todd Haley's fire-powered offense. Haley showed in Arizona that he loved to air it out to Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin. Now Bowe and Baldwin can be the dynamic duo that Haley and Chiefs quarterback Matt Cassel need to be an offensive powerhouse in the league.

At Pitt, Baldwin was known as a "go-up-and-get-it" vertical threat. To be successful at the next level, he is willing to do anything.

"If that means going across the middle, running slants, running posts, running go routes, blocking; I'll do it," Baldwin said. "I'm going to do whatever they ask of me, I don't care. I'll do whatever the team needs."

"I'm just going to try to contribute the most I can, and hopefully that will mean the Kansas City Chiefs winning ball games."

Winning games and having a monster rookie season will help those critics forget the Chiefs reached a bit to grab him.

"The Kansas City Chiefs organization drafted me to help them the best way I can," Baldwin concluded. "I'm just going to work hard like I always do. All I can do is bust my tail."

I've read his teammates at PITT stood up for him and confirmed that the coaching staff mishandled Baldwin's talent and that he was possibly the hardest worker on their team.

I'm liking this guy more and more.

Yeah the more you learn about him the more you like him. It just can't be helped. I hope he fills all our expectations.

Going into the year he was one of the four who were easily supposed to be drafted in the first.

Teams were shying away because his numbers were down and he had a big mouth. But his teammates and some of the coaches were really standing up for him. Im sure Pioli did his Homework and knows what he is capable of. Its up to haley to bring it out of him now, which he is one of the best on the league at that.

I can't wait to see him and Bowe on the field together this season. They are both trash talkers too. It'll be like a younger and more productive TO and Ocho.

I can't wait to see him with Bowe, Moeaki, McCluster, and another free agent WR(Maybe Breaston?).. and and someone named Jammal Charles.

Yeah.. Im super excited about our offense this next season. I dont see how we could be stopped if we add a good slot like Breaston. Our offense will be one of the most explosive in the league next season! book it!

Kolby Smith that RB who used to play for the Chiefs was tweeting the other day theres no way the Chiefs don't have a top five offense this year with all that talent.

He would never make it in this backfield! lol but Its good to see that he recognizes! We definately got a good thing going!

Baldwin is going to be great here under Haley and opposite Bowe. A RB like Charles will open things up for these guys like Crazy. Moeaki might be the one to thrive the most from all this surrounding talent though. Hopefully Cassel can take advantage of this.

I think that Bowe will be helped out the most from this. With the Talent that he has and all the talent that he is surrounded with he could get thrown into that upper tier of recievers.

Yeah Bowe is a receiver who needs a receiving threat to take the heat off of him to be great. Not really a bad thing, still better that most WR's in the league. McCluster might thrive the most though... especially if we add another slot WR. McCluster can be put anywhere on the field to take advantage of mismatches.

I honestly think that everyones production will increase. Our recieving threats will keep other recievers out of double coverage and since we have so many it will keep them from having 8 in thte box the whole game so Charles could have a repeat 6 ypc average.