Royals, Bassa become teammates in Kansas City

KANSAS CITY (ABC4 Sports) – Kansas City Chiefs head coach and former BYU offensive lineman Andy Reid has always liked players from Utah.

Reid and the Chiefs added two more last week in the NFL Draft, selecting Utah State wide receiver Jalen Royals in the fourth round and former Kearns High standout Jeffrey Bassa in the fifth round.

Royals was hoping to hear his name called a little earlier, but when the Chiefs made the pick in the fourth round of the NFL Draft, Royals was elated.

“Man, it’s been crazy,” Royals said after being drafted. “Hearing other names being called, passing me up, but to hear my name called in the fourth round, it was an amazing call. Playing in JUCO and grinding there, and being offered at Utah State and grinding there. And now I’m a Chief.”

USU receiver Jalen Royals drafted in 4th round by Chiefs

Royals played in just seven games last year before a foot injury ended his seasons. But he finished his Utah State career with 126 catches for 1,914 yards and 21 touchdowns. Now he’ll be catching passes from one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history Patrick Mahomes.

“He’s like best quarterback in the league,” Royals said with a smile. So to catch passes from him is going to be amazing. They’ve shown they can be the best offense in the league year in and year out, so I’m extremely excited.”

Being the new “Kansas City Royals” seems a match made in heaven, even though Jalen Royals is not a big baseball fan.

“Our quarterback at Utah State was a big baseball fan,” Royals said. “So he’s trying to get me into it. But that is going to be fun.”

Former Kearns high star Jeffrey Bassa, who went on to play at Oregon, also wanted to be drafted earlier than the fifth round. But he’s ready to use it as motivation.

“In the draft, a lot of crazy things happen,” Bassa said. “So it really test your patience, and patience is one of the the main things that I live by. I’m for sure going to remember every linebacker that came off the board before me, and use that as fuel and motivation.”

Bassa played wide receiver and safety at Kearns, but converted to linebacker in his first year at Oregon, and that move has paid off. Bassa finished his college career with 236 tackles, 4.5 sacks and three interceptions.

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“I was the biggest safety in the room at Oregon,” Bassa said. “So they put me in the linebacker room and they were just saying if you can go in and learn these plays, you can change the impact of your career. Making that transition from safety to linebacker can help you out a lot. So I took that opportunity and ran with it.”

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Royals, Bassa become teammates in Kansas City

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