Kansas City, Mo. ? He has the right body type to play nose tackle, and the perfect name — Tank Tyler.

Still, the Chiefs are looking for a little more ‘tude out of the 310-pounder. They’ll be watching closely as Tyler rotates in and out tonight in a preseason game against Seattle, a night that could provide the final audition for the right to start in the middle of Kansas City’s new 3-4 defense.

Kansas City coach Todd Haley wants a certain personality type for that mostly thankless job.

“That’s a man’s position in there,” he said. “When you’re playing, especially as much of the 3-4 that we’re playing, and you’re the nose and you’re in there, a lot of that is just want-to. You’re fighting, scratching and clawing every play.”

Like every other non-rookie defensive player in Kansas City, Tyler was drafted for a different system. Then, on the heels of last year’s 2-14 season, out went the old coaching and administrative staff and in came Haley, setting a tough and demanding tone in his first season as a head coach.

The powerful Tyler would seem ideally suited to be the run-stuffer and all-around disrupter the 3-4 requires in the middle, somebody to occupy blockers while freeing linebackers and defensive ends to make plays.

But so far in camp, Tyler’s play has “been a little up and down,” Haley said.

“I’m waiting to see Tank kind of show out a little bit. The thing that I remember about Tank … was just the nastiness that he played with. He was a bad dude. You didn’t want to mess around with him. So I’m waiting to see a little more of that.”

Since being taken in the third round out of North Carolina State by former coach Herm Edwards, Tyler has been slow to develop into the player the Chiefs thought he might be. But it is not, he insists, due to any lack of malevolence.

“It’s always been there,” he said. “I don’t know any other way to play the game, down in the trenches as a D-lineman. You have to have a nasty streak. You have to have some meanness and some toughness about you to look a guy in the eye and hit him in the mouth every single play. You’ve got to have some nasty streak about you.”

The fight for noseguard seems to have come down to Tyler, Ron Edwards and Derek Lokey. Tyler, told of his coach’s concerns, seemed ready to amp up.

“I can turn it up a hundred notches,” he said. “I’m never complacent or satisfied with what I’m doing on the field. I know I can always get better. I’ve seen myself play two times better than I am now. I’m getting better, and I want to continue to get better every day.”

Haley figured the starters, including quarterback Matt Cassel, would play into the third quarter while the Chiefs (0-2) look for their first win.

“I told the guys yesterday this is the toughest week in football,” he said. “You get tired of seeing the same guys. There’s an anxiety over jobs. But I’m looking for guys with staying power. Guys who can sustain. That’s why our camp has to be a tough camp, to find out who those individuals are. I think we’re starting to find it out.”

The Seahawks (2-0) are unbeaten after getting past Denver last week. Seattle also has a buzz in camp with the signing to a one-year contract Tuesday of running back Edgerrin James.

James, the NFL’s leading active rusher, signed a one-year deal and will be counted on to bolster a ground game that hasn’t been much of a threat since the Seahawks’ Super Bowl season in 2005.

Coach Jim Mora said his starters would also play into the third quarter. But whether James makes his Seattle debut would be a game-time decision. Julius Jones and second-year man Justin Forsett figured to get most of the carries.

Rookie linebacker Aaron Curry, the overall No. 4 pick last spring, was expected to play after missing last week with a groin strain.