Recent reports out of Miami stated the Dolphins had begun contract negotiations with the agent for offensive tackle Jake Long, formerly of the Michigan Wolverines.
It’s over, the dream is dead. Jake is a Dolphin, the Chiefs aren’t going to get him. They’re going to draft a mediocre quarterback and watch him get destroyed as a makeshift offensive line plays midget league football in front of him.
What’s that? What did you say? The Dolphins aren’t necessarily going to draft Long?
That’s right Chiefs fans. The Dolphins are doing what every good team should do with the first pick overall prior in the draft—get a contract signed before it begins. We all saw what happened last year when the Raiders failed to get a contract in hand before they selected Jamarcus “Dough Boy” Russell 1st overall. He sat out, missed all of training camp and didn’t even make an appearance for the silver and black until the season was almost over. Apparently he spent most of his money and time eating–atta boy Jamarcus!
But like I said, the Dolphins are doing what every good team should do prior to the draft—the Raiders are obviously not a well ran organization, and as long as Al Davis is calling the shots in Oakland, they will never be. The Dolphins are now being lead by one of the better football minds you or I have ever seen whether we want to admit it or not, Bill Parcells.
Here is what Parcells is doing and it’s exactly what players’ agents do to NFL teams when the player they represent becomes a free agent. The Dolphins will try to figure out during the negotiations with Long’s agent what type of money he is looking for if the Dolphins were to call his name 1st overall on April 26th. Once they decipher what kind of monetary commitment it is going to take, they will move on to Chris Long and perhaps another one or two players and do the same thing. Once they have all the numbers in, they can target the player they really want, look him and his agent in the eyes and say, “look, we would love to draft you, but we can get player x for a lot cheaper than you.” What more, each pick afterwards is that much less money the player, and the agent are going to make.
That’s some pretty powerful bargaining chips that set on the Dolphins side of the table, and Parcells is a master poker player.
Classic contract negotiations 101, and few are as good at it as Bill Parcells. Not only is he good at evaluating talent, he is also very good and keeping his intentions close to his vest so to speak. Whether Bill honestly wants Jake Long to be the pick or whether he is merely starting the game we’ll never know until a couple days prior to the draft—if even then.
My heart still says the pick is going to be Chris Long with an outside shot at Vernon Gholston’s name being read aloud by Roger Goodell—but more importantly my mind says Chris is the pick as well. Chris is a Parcells type of player-blue collar, hard working, high motor and he can play down lineman and outside rush linebacker.
Next week, I will have my closing arguments for who I think the Chiefs will pick and why. I want you guys and gals to think about who you think the Chiefs will draft, not necessarily who you want them to. Be prepared to make an argument for your guy and then come April 27th, we can see who got the closest.
FanSided Sports Blog
Kings of Kauffman
NFL Mocks
Stock Car Spin
Bolt Beat
Just Blog Baby
Predominantly Orange
Ramblin' Fan
Loading ...
Steven I couldn’t agree with you more. This is exactly what Parcells is doing. He knows that nobody wants the #1 pick, especially with the money they have to shell out this year. He knows that there is only one player that the Rams, Falcons, Raiders, and Chiefs all could draft and that is Jake Long. He is trying to convince other teams out there to move up so they don’t have to make a decision on a player that is not a clear cut #1 pick.
Did anyone listen to Colin Cowherd today? He was talking about how the Dolphins might not select anyone at number 1, and instead, let other teams jump in front of them (assuming they cannot trade the pick). They might do this because of the parity at the top of the draft. They drop down 3-4 spots and save 12 million dollars and they could still end up with the guy they like. I’m not saying I agree with him, but from a business perspective it makes a lot of sense, and I thought it was an intriguing scenario.
So they want to Mike Tice it? LOL
This has nothing to do with Jake Long, but the Chiefs just recently signed another fullback Chris Manderino over from Cincinnati. With the addition of him to the recently signed Oliver Hoyte from Dallas, I don’t see them drafting a fullback this year which clears a little bit of the needs at the other positions. At most I see them picking up one more undrafted free agent fullback after the draft. Can’t wait for April 26th!!!
I think we may have a trade partner with the Patriots come Draft day…… moving dwon two spots and picking up a third round would be great. I am hoping and praying…..
We all agree that we NEED an O-line right? I want Jake Long more than anything, but, why wouldn’t we be stoked on Ryan Clady? Why don’t I ever hear any chiefs fans on any fan sites talk about Clady? Who only a couple months ago was actually the no 1 OT going into the draft and Jake Long was the 3rd and expected 2nd round by many analysts. Jake Long is my number 1, but I personally am hoping that we walk away with Ryan Clady as our #1 pick (if Jake is gone). Does no one else think that Clady will also be an elite nfl player for the next 10 years? I’m not trying to be argumentative, i honestly just wanna know if I’m missing something.
I’ve pondered this Patriots trade down myself. Lets say, that by some miricle, run DMC and Ellis fall into our lap. The pats wana trade up, for run DMC, for a third rounder. Now, lets say we bite. What is the guarantee that the Jets wont take Ellis? I dunno, its right up there with sticking your head in a lions mouth for a third rounder. Better yet, its like having two pair on the flop with 1000 dollars in the pot. Sure, you can take another card and try to get another hundred bucks into the pot, but player X might just make that straight or that flush on the next card. Better to shut player X down now. Did I mention im living in Vegas now? haha.
Oh, and just to jump the gun on who I think we will take. My money is on Ellis. I think, at the end of the day, thats how its gona go down.
Btw, who do I talk to to make the draft earlier next year? Like around the beginning of April. The anticipation is just killing me;)
Clady has developed the reputation of being lazy, lacking a strong work ethic. I think that is the reason you don’t hear much about him anymore. Braden Albert, in many discussions, has become the 2nd best tackle prospect in the draft.
I have never had a problem with Clady. I just want to get the draft over with. So we can see what kind of “hand” we are going to play with… The nuts or a 10 high….lol…
Albert, Really? That’s what I don’t get, a GUARD who has a gametime reputation of being lazy, gets put above a proven young (left) TACKLE who has a gametime rep of working hard and plays to the whistle, when they haven’t played a game in 4 mos.
I do agree w/ Jeremy and MasterBlaster, I can’t wait for the 26th.
Ryan Clady got a 13 on his Wonderlic, played in a crappy conference, has an attitude problem, is an underclassmen and is reportedly lazy. No thanks anywhere in the first round. That’s on the record for me.
And no matter what happens I still believe Long will be gone before No. 5.
Yah I have never considered Clady being better than Jake Long.
I think Adam also touched on everything that is wrong with Clady and why you cant reach on him at the 5th pick.
Long might be gone, there is absolutely no doubt about that, but there is also a chance he will be there. The name I can’t believe I have heard that is slipping leading up to the draft is Chris Long. I don’t know, if he is there @ 5, I don’t know how you pass him up.
Dustin–I have to say that I have never heard, seen, or read anything about Albert being any of those things you mentioned, except a guard. Now Claddy? That’s a different story.
Where would you play him? I understand he is a unique talent, but he really doesn’t fit anywhere in our defense.
And if we do take him you can’t just say trade so and so because then their value will diminish because teams know that we would have to get rid of someone.
i never saw anywhere jlong called a 2nd rounder also he wouldve been a 1st rounder last year. also never saw clady as the best tackle anywhere either. dont know where dustin saw this stuff but ive monitored mocks since they began to come out. never saw that stuff
Unless we work out a draft-day deal to move Jared, we simply cannot pick Gholsten or Long. For the record, I don’t buy into the Howie Jr. hype as much as most people, and actually prefer Gholsten.
And I’ve never seen Jake Long be anything but a top ten pick. Even a year ago with early mocks.
SportingNews.com about 6 weeks ago had Ryan Clady as their number one tackle before Jake Long!!! I don’t know if you can search their archives. I even posted it on this site; check their previous mock drafts. Anyway, let’s get this draft here and soon. Whether we like it or not, the Chiefs had Clady in today April 14th. I will welcome anyone. We will have a lot of growing pains this year. Our number 5 pick will not be the savior of this team. Jared Allen on D, and Larry Johnson on O will have to be.
I will not welcome anyone…the Chiefs cannot draft another Ryan Sims!
I don’t know what we’re going to do? But I agree I want the 26th to get here and see, but with all the players we’ve let go and the non-signing of anyone, I don’t know how our offense is going to ever score a point. Who is Croyle or anyone else going to throw the ball to, and who’s going to block for LJ or his backup, he’s going to get hurt again, if our line is not ALOT!!!! better than last year, Yeah I’m excited about the draft, but I think we’re in for a long season again Chiefs fans!!!! We might be lucky to see 4-12 this year….With the 1st pick in the 2009 draft the Chiefs take……..TBD!!!!
Croyle is going to throw the ball to the other team…
as for LJ, I’ll have to steal from T.O. kinda and say getcha diaper ready! lol
Gholston doesn’t have a high motor, doesn’t play hard every down. Not projected to be as stiff against the run as Chris Long. Vernon supporters always say he beat Jake Long when they played against each other. He got one sack, Long shut him down the rest of the game. Gholston might be the next mike mamula (boston college). You guys remember him right? “work out warrior” looked good in shorts and had unbelievable numbers at the combine and his pro day. Eagles took him early, and he did nothing. I think Gholston will be about the same. That’s why I’m kinda hoping he goes off the board early, it will help the Chiefs out.
First of all this is an extremely long post, so if you make it all the way through, congratulations, I’ll mail you a metaphorical cookie.
Everyone’s freaking out about our line, but we don’t actually need as much as you might think, and not all our chips are riding on the draft. Let’s do a quick recap, we lost a tackle, a center, and a guard, over the offseason. We still retained Damion MacIntosh, and Brian Waters. 2/5 is not a good ratio. At the least, we’d like to have 3/5 positions covered, and I assure you, we do. We’re still looking at needing maybe 2 men up front in the trenches, but we don’t need a massive overhaul boys.
I’ve said this before in previous posts, and I’ll post it here again.. Even if we go into this season with ONLY the men we have RIGHT NOW (PRE-DRAFT!) we are STILL BETTER than LAST YEAR. Last year, we took a bowl, added a bit of rotten Kyle Turley, a chunk of moldy John Welbourn, added a dash of stale, injured D-Mac and Jason Dunn, tossed in a less-talented RB and inexperienced, hybrid FB, and we came out with a shit sundae. Pardon the language.
Don’t forget, the backfield acts as a part of the offense too, and not just in carrying/catching the football. We were spoiled with T-Rich, and we went from a pro-bowler to NOTHING. Larry Johnson is a top-3 back when 100%, but he was hurt. So we went from a pro-bowler to NOTHING (I do like Kolby Smith, but I’ll be the first to admit he’s no LJ, at least right now.) We’ll have LJ back, that’s an immediate improvement. So to make a point, right now in my argument, we are still down: 1 tackle, 1 guard, 1 center, 1 blocking tight end, and an actual fullback.
I am still a believer that the game is won in the trenches, which is why I’m so big on all the tackles in this year’s draft, be it offensive or defensive. I would love to see Jake Long or Brandon Albert getting called out for the 5th pick, but if it doesn’t happen, I’m not going to worry. We’ll be getting other great talent, and our O-line will still be fine. For one reason and one reason alone: Herb Taylor. Yes, the little known guard that was but a mere rookie on the squad last year. All he did was come in during the 2nd half of the season and provide oustanding play at at least one of the positions on the line. Re-watch the last 2 games of the season if you are able to, and you’ll see what I mean. He even played a little tackle, and did well there too. But at guard, he looked great. So in my mind, we have 2 starting guards, Waters/Taylor. We have at least 1 tackle, in D-Mac, who hopefully will be better, coming back from naggin injuries that slowed him down. Will Svitek may need a few more years to ’simmer’ but could be the ‘decent’ but not ‘great’ guy we need on the RT position. At center, Rudy Niswanger I don’t remember seeing him a whole lot, so I honestly have no opinion on that, it’s 50/50.
Has anyone heard about Chris Bober? He was the all-position back-up, pretty much, and was IR’d last year, but is he coming back this year? If so, center might be good for him. He’s bigger and stronger than Weigmann is, and we’ve have a much bigger, stronger, wiser, healthier, and hopefully more freakin confident front 5 than we did last year. I still see TE and FB as problem areas, Jason Dunn may have lost a step, but he was vital on some plays. We need that catalyst. Also FB, we havn’t had a true FB in a few years, and it’s showing. I’m not asking for an Alstott, T-Rich or Lorenzo Neal clone, but I am asking for someone who can at least block, catch 1 pass out of the backfield a game, minimum, and hopefully run for a couple tough 1-yard first downs during the season. That’s all. So going back to my math earlier, I’m thinking at MINIMUM we have 3/5 starters already on our team. Probably 4. It all depends on how these young guys are developing. But, the line isn’t all. During the draft, or even after, when teams cut some players, if we can find a blocking TE, a FB, to go along with our new offensive coordinator, I think we’re looking at a totally different, non-predictable KC Chiefs O.
If you made it all the way through that, then wow, you’re a stud. I started to confuse myself a bit, and I thought/wrote it. Crazy. But I think we’re going to be better on O even if we stick with the good old boys we already have, let alone if we draft a top 5 prospect in the draft, or pick up a decent player that is released… mark my words gentlemen, we will be tremendously improved. Tremendously.
Scott-
Who is he going to throw the ball too? Serious?
Try D-Bo and Tony-G. Duh! I know he might not have the time to get rid of it, but we still have the leagues top TE and the second best offensive rookie last season who lost out to Purple Jesus. So lets not act like those guys cant make plays.