Junior Hemingway To The Kansas City Chiefs

Photo Credit: Big Ten Network

With the 238th Pick of the 2012 NFL Draft, the Kansas City Chiefs select Junior Hemingway, WR from the University of Michigan. Yes!! Another pick from Michigan, thank goodness. This pick made a lot of sense because the Chiefs needed another weapon on offense, some quarterback that just signed with Denver (haha) is known for gun slinging and putting up a lot of points. Junior will join Michigan alum Steve Breaston, as well as Dwayne Bowe in Kansas City.

He should definitely go a long way in improving the receiving numbers for the Chiefs. The Chiefs ranked 27th in the NFL in total offense and 25th in the league in passing. At the combine, Hemingway put up 21 reps at 225 which was among tops among all receivers. Also, he ran a 4.53 in the 40, which is decent and had a 35.5" jump. Not crazy impressive numbers, but still pretty good for a wide receiver. He's 6'0 tall and weighs 225 lbs, but has some great hands.  The biggest thing that probably hurt his draft stock is his height.

In his career at Michigan, Hemingway started 31 games at WR and appeared in 48 games overall. He ranks 17th in Michigan history with 1,638 yards receiving, he also amassed six 100-yard receiving games placing him 9th in school history.  Let's not forget about his 2 touchdowns in the Sugar Bowl this past year, which earned him Sugar Bowl MVP. Along with this, he earned All Big-Ten team honorable mention.

In 2011, he led the team in receiving with 34 catches for 699 yards averaging 20.6 yards per catch, and tied for the team lead with 4 touchdowns. His biggest game was against the Irish, where he grabbed 3 balls for 165 yards and 1 touchdown. In 2010, he caught 32 balls for 593 yards averaging 18.5 yards a catch and also had 4 touchdowns. 2009 he had 16 catches for 268 yards and 2 touchdowns. In 2007 and 2008, he didn't play much, but he did have 6 catches for 30.5 yards and 1 touchdown. Now, Hemingway wasn't just a receiver, he also did some work in the return game early on in his career.  He had 11 career returns for 120 yards, averaged 10.9 yards a return and a career long of 34 yards.  

This by no means is a Rich Rod bashing, but I definitely think that playing in his era hurt Hemingway. We all know it was a run heavy offense due to the spread. In a more traditional offense, or even the one that they ran this year, he would have had better numbers. If he had been in this offense, who knows how high he would have been taken in the draft.  Regardless, Hemingway should do some solid things in Kansas City in the future.