BLACK KITE: Chiefs Juan Thornhill Takes Flight! – I don’t believe that I have ever been as excited for the start of the season as I am now. September 8th cannot get here soon enough for me.

Much of it is because of my role as a writer here at ArrowheadOne. A great deal is because of all the talk of Patrick Mahomes being even better than last year. Is that even possible?!… and I could continue the list with wanting to see Steve Spagnuolo’s new defense in action which David Bell covered in his excellent article, Chiefs Defense: Who is Who and Why, featured here at ArrowheadOne yesterday. Or even the “Legion of Zoom” that takes flight for the Chiefs come September 8, 2019.

Another reason… a big reason… is rookie Safety Juan Thornhill. The self-described “Black Kite” has me excited about the Chiefs defense this season. I’ve not been excited about the Chiefs defense since Eric Berry returned from his victorious bout with cancer a few seasons ago.

Call me the Black Kite!! Google it if you don’t know what that mean. — The_Juan_And_Only (@Juan_Thornhill) July 15, 2019

Wikipedia describes a Black Kite as:

“… a medium-sized bird of prey… Black kites are most often seen gliding and soaring on thermals as they search for food. The flight is buoyant and the bird glides with ease, changing directions easily. They will swoop down with their legs lowered to snatch small live prey, fish, household refuse and carrion… They are opportunist hunters and have been known to take birds, bats, and rodents.”

From what I have heard from Chiefs Training Camp, seen in training camp clips, and watching film, the moniker fits the 6-foot, 210-pound versatile safety perfectly.

On another football-related site earlier this year, I gave Thornhill a grade of A. My summary of him included,

“… quite simply a ball-hawk…He quickly closes distances and drives through runners’ legs to finish his tackles. With exceptional ball-handling skills, he poses a formidable interception threat to quarterbacks brave enough to throw his way. His skills also lend themselves to the possibility of the Chiefs utilizing him as a cornerback, too.”

Sure, I was high on Thornhill in my analysis, but I had not a clue that he is as good as he is.

"He's the type of guy that's going to help me out…he'll definitely take me under his arm and try to work me through whatever I don't understand." Here's rookie second-round pick @Juan_Thornhill talking about learning from @Mathieu_Era. pic.twitter.com/CZsOSuR4cN — BJ Kissel (@ChiefsReporter) July 24, 2019

Chiefs head coach Andy Reid seems equally impressed.

“I like what I’ve seen. I think he has a chance to be a real good football player. He’s another one who you have liked to seen be healthy throughout here, but he was doing some nice things for us. You can tell he’s got good instincts and understands the game, was making plays on the ball. I liked what I saw.”

A soft-spoken man of few words, Thornhill prefers to do his talking on the field. Not only is he loud, but for sixty minutes on game day, you cannot shut him up!

Prior to earning a scholarship with his home state’s University of Virginia, Thornhill was both a standout basketball player in addition to his duties as the Altavista, VA stud football player, playing both safety and quarterback.

Juan Thornhill’s best highlights might be from his high school’s state championship game. He had 3 dunks. He was watching SportsCenter that night, saw he made the Top 10. “I ran around the house, telling my dad to come watch, telling my mom to come watch. It was really crazy.” pic.twitter.com/O3EamZJjpz — Jon Machota (@jonmachota) April 26, 2019

The Virginia Cavalier made Third Team All-ACC in 2017 and followed up in 2018 with First Team All-ACC. The versatile Cavalier served as both safety and cornerback as necessary.

He may have returned a kickoff or two, as well.

“It’s going to take some time. We’ve only been around each other eight weeks, so we’ve got a long way to go. I think training camp is going to be a great test for us and obviously preseason games, and even the first four games of the regular season. But I think we’ve got a good group, a young group. As long as I as a leader gets everybody to buy in, I think we’ll be alright on the back end.”

– Honey Badger on Thornhill

Selected by the Chiefs in the second round in the 2019 NFL Draft, Thornhill was a steal for the Chiefs! After drafting Thornhill, Chiefs General Manager Brett Veach told the press,

“Juan is very versatile. He can do a lot of different things for you. We have some really good safeties, but these guys we have, I think the knack they have is kind of down low.

The Honey Badger (Mathieu) said in his press conference he feels like Superman close to the football. Armani Watts had a lot of those traits and Dan (Sorensen) is a guy that played down a lot. (Jordan) Lucas is a guy that has some range back there, but I think Juan gives you a true free safety, center fielder. He has tremendous ball skills and range on the back end.

So I think this really gives you a free safety with playmaking skills back there that can take the football away. But he can also slide down and cover some in the slot, and I think he’ll be a really good cover piece against some athletic tight ends we’ll see throughout the course of our season.”

Virginia S Juan Thornhill flipped over from CB this year and has played well. Sound with run fills and processing but ball production has been lacking. That changed against Miami yesterday. Here's his 1st of 2 picks. PS – Ref gotta tackle better than that. pic.twitter.com/S4midBl7z0 — Joe Marino (@TheJoeMarino) October 14, 2018

Safety Dan Sorensen is still performing tasks on the first team, but I doubt that lasts long. No offense to Dan Sorensen, but if I had a vacation planned for Florida the week of 26 January – 03 February 2020, and I had a reliable Volvo and a brand new Ferrari sitting in my garage, I’m Florida-bound with my sleek new Ferrari with top-down and music blasting.

I am so excited for the start of the season!

While I am not an old country boy being from the city of St. Louis, MO, I sure am smellin’ what them 2019 Chiefs are steppin’ in! Smells like success!

Bonus Fun Fact: The 63rd draft pick from the 2019 NFL Draft that the Chiefs used in the second round to snatch up Thornhill was in exchange for the trade with the Los Angeles Rams for Marcus Peters, that sent the troubled cornerback packing. This Veach guy really seems to know what he’s doing!

Michael Travis Rose — ArrowheadOne

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