"He's here, he's there, he's everywhere, he's the Edgerunner, Li Wei Li Wei Li Wei!"
The entire field, seething, swirling for a long ti.
In the war room above the Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City Chiefs manager Veach quietly watched this scene, his hands folded across his chest, lost in thought.
It wasn't concern, nor was it pride, Veach was simply reminded of everything that happened on the morning of draft day.
He still rembered, Reed watching Li Wei on the video screen, replaying it over and over, then telling him with a firm tone,
Li Wei might be a "once in a decade" talent, Li Wei could beco a team leader.
He had hesitated, doubted, wandered, but in the end, he chose to trust Reed, he chose to take the risk.
Now it seed, Li Wei's Chinese heritage and the entire Asian Market behind him weren't that important because even without these factors, Li Wei was still worth it.
At this year's draft, he was suddenly thrust into command, his first ti as team manager, his first ti in charge of the draft, and he might have made a series of decisions that could change his professional career and even the future landscape of the league, and it all just happened, he hadn't even realized how:
It was a bit thrilling.
But he liked it. He finally understood why so say competitive sports are like an addiction, like craving for nicotine or alcohol, indeed, it's an addiction that's hard to quit.
Just imagine, now, inside and outside the league, just how many eyes were focused on Li Wei, and what thoughts those eyes hid—
Fans. Comntators. Scouts. Coaches. Team managers. Football experts.
And so on and so forth.
Of course, there were also the opponents.
Like Solomon Thomas.
Thomas sat on the ground like a teddy bear, shoulders slumped, eyes hollow, not even feeling the sha, but full of confusion.
He couldn't understand how everything had just happened, he clearly caught Li Wei's intent and tackled him with precision, owning the advantage in size, weight, and strength, yet how was he outmaneuvered and broken through by Li Wei? Your next read awaits at empire
He, couldn't understand.
"Solomon... Solomon!"
The calling voice, approaching from afar, pulled Thomas back to reality, and then he realized, the Special Duty Group was about to take the field, they had to leave.
Dazed, confused, Thomas followed his teammates off the field, removed his helt to catch so air, and finally cooled his mind.
"Shit!"
Thomas cursed fiercely, not deflated but instead pumping himself up again, cast his eyes across the field at the jovial number 23, grinding his teeth with an unprecedented desire to fiercely tackle that guy.
However, Thomas's wish, it seed, was hard to fulfill, at least for today.
When the Kansas City Chiefs offense and the San Francisco 49ers defensive group took the field again, San Francisco's defensive coordinator Sally finally caught a chance to see through Reed's offensive tactics, accurately cutting off the Chiefs' offense.
Ground running.
Because the tactic was read, Li Wei got caught before even starting, Thomas once again showed his determination—
Breaking through the pocket yet again.
Simply from the performance of breaking away from the offensive line and entering the pocket, Thomas had proved himself; but unfortunately, he could never turn the breakthrough into effective passing pressure or actual tackles.
This ti, it was an opportunity.
Thomas ford a surrounding cover, bending his knees to lower his center of gravity, tightly cutting off the path, leading Li Wei to helplessly hit the wall head-on.
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If nothing unexpected happened, this would have been a perfectly successful ground defense.
But the unexpected did happen.
Li Wei didn't evade or shrink back, charging head-on like a Spanish bullfighter, lowering his center of gravity and using his helt like horns to fiercely collide with Thomas.
The violent collision of helts caused a dizzying tumult, Thomas completely unprepared for Li Wei's power—
What happened to the supposed lack of strength? What about not being good at head-on confrontation?
Caught off guard, Thomas fell backward, staring up at the sky.
Li Wei broke through head-on.
Of course, Li Wei paid a price, his balance compromised, his strength depleted. After breaking past Thomas, his steps were in disarray; he did not manage to advance far before being encircled by the linen, tackled helplessly to the ground.
The gain was a re five yards.
But!
Such forcefulness, such tenacity, such brutality—flipping Thomas head-over-heels showcased the allure of football's power struggles and physical collisions completely, igniting the entire Arrowhead Stadium, where the Kansas City Chiefs scored a touchdown after a sustained drive of five minutes and thirty-seven seconds.
Now, Thomas was in shutdown mode:
Tackles failed, collisions failed, interceptions failed, everything failed.
Thomas felt like a re post, a tool used for taking hits, enduring so many impacts and pains without any reward, reduced to re background, like a candle burning itself to illuminate others.
Especially Li Wei.
So much so that the next ti he saw Li Wei, Thomas hesitated for a brief mont without anticipating it, not out of fear but confusion, because he didn't know how to stop Li Wei.
The result?
The result was that Li Wei, with a move similar to the Marseille Turn in soccer, dazzled past Thomas, then swiftly carried the ball forward twenty-three yards. It took San Francisco 49ers' secondary defense three n to finally stop Li Wei and prevent him from making another straight drive into the end zone.
Incredulously!
Once again outmaneuvered and in a direct confrontation, Thomas began to harbor self-doubt for the first ti: Am I really that easy to take down?
Unimaginable, the one-on-one duel between Thomas and Li Wei ended in a total defeat for Thomas, who couldn't even put up a resistance. Li Wei completely overpowered him.
So much so that the studio filtered out Thomas once more, just like at the draft. Though Thomas was the one who had the worst ti, he didn't receive any dia attention, painting a desolate "nonexistent" picture.
For a mont, Thomas wasn't sure whether he wanted the live comntators to mock him or to ignore him.
Fortunately for Thomas, Li Wei didn't stay on the field for long, playing only one quarter before he took off his helt and pads, sitting on the sidelines laughing and chatting with his teammates, slipping into rest and vacation mode.
His deanor was relaxed, and he didn't even care to put down Thomas. He conveyed a sense of relaxation as if he had co out for a picnic with friends, without feeling any of the stress associated with the NFL's professional intensity.
But by then, Thomas was no longer gritting his teeth.
It was clear that the San Francisco 49ers breathed a sigh of relief. The scenario with Li Wei was completely different from what they had anticipated; no one could cope with his speed and strength. But for a while, they couldn't determine:
Was Li Wei too strong, or was Thomas too weak?
Thomas: ???
When he noticed the signals hidden in his teammates' glances, suggesting "is this really the difference between a third-round and a first-round pick," he was filled with unspeakable bitterness. Yet, whenever he looked at Li Wei sitting casually on the sidelines, he would swallow down all his retorts, sitting in a corner, scribbling circles and cursing Li Wei—
That guy, just die, die, die.
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