As a rookie, Dexter McCluster eventually found a home with the Chiefs as a slot receiver. Last season, the team moved him to running back. During offseason workouts, he’s back at receiver.
He soon could be back at running back.
Adam Teicher of the Kansas City Star writes that the Chiefs are struggling to find value from McCluster, a second-round pick in 2010. “We feel like he knows how to play running back, and we can put him over at running back at any point in time, but we felt like he needed the work at wide receiver,” coach Romeo Crennel recently said, via Teicher. “So we gave him the work at wide receiver. If we need him at running back then we’ll put him at running back. Probably what that will do is open it up for us to be able to use him however and whenever we need him at whatever position. He’s taken to it really well. He’s been enthusiastic about it, so that is working out pretty well for us.”
McCluster described himself simply as an “Offensive Weapon” two years ago, and that appears to be how the team plans to use him.
The best bet for the Chiefs, given the arrival of former Browns offensive coordinator Brian Daboll as the new offensive coordinator in Kansas City, could be to use McCluster like the Browns used Josh Cribbs under Daboll — as a return specialist, a receiver, a running back, and Wildcat quarterback.
McCluster generated 844 yards from scrimmage in 2011, up from 280 in 2010.