A Draft Done Right
Let me start off by saying that I think the only draft pick I got correct in my Mock Draft a week ago was the pick the Oakland Faiders made when they selected Darren McFadden with the fourth choice overall. That is why they are called “mock” drafts.
I was going to write an article this week about the Jared Allen trade and my thoughts on the subject, but after watching the first day of the draft Saturday, I got to tell you, I would like to personally send Jared a thank you card for agreeing to sign with the Vikings and thus allowing the Chiefs to have an extra pick in the first round. I will say this; He is no longer a Chief, therefore I care no more for him. I would say I wish him well, he was my favorite player on the Chiefs, but honestly I could care less how he does.
I am a Chiefs fan, not a “one particular player fan”. Period.
Instead, I thought I would write a little about the draft thing that took place over the weekend, I don’t know if you heard about it or not. Just the first day of the draft however, because let’s be honest, round 3 or 4 and beyond is really a guessing game to the avid or causal fan. Most of the time when a name is called, we get a look on our face that screams out “who?”.
I will also preface this by writing that I believe trying to grade a draft a day or two after it occurs is pretty much pointless. You can’t fairly and honestly evaluate how a team drafted until 2-3 years down the road. Having said that, let me continue on with my grade of the Chiefs first day draft.
First selection is Glenn Dorsey, my first response was, “are you kidding me, I can’t believe he fell to the Chiefs!” But low and behold, he did and right then and there, I thought that no matter what else transpired over the course of the next several hours, the Chiefs hit the lottery. Glenn Dorsey is a stud, many had him rated the highest of any player on their respective boards, including the St. Louis Rams who drafted need over ability and I think they made the correct call. Once he made it past the Falcons, I knew the Chiefs had a legitimate chance to land this guy, and I was stoked.
Glenn Dorsey is and will be a difference maker, and there aren’t a whole lot of those type of players. The type of player that forces offensive coordinator’s to scheme plays to account for a particular player. LT, Derrick Thomas, Ray Lewis, Urlacher, to name a few. I think in a couple years, you will be able to add Glenn Dorsey to that list, I really do.
Many (including yours truly) believed the Chiefs, should take the next best offensive lineman in the draft if they were unable to trade out of the 5th spot. That lineman, to me, would have been Branden Albert. The Chiefs brilliantly traded back up a couple spots from 17 (thanks Jared) to 15 and grab him then. I believe Branden will be a force to be reckoned with at the left tackle position. By the way, did any of you guys see the highlight of him catching a “swing pass” from the tackle/tight end position? Crazy.
Now, you can say what you want to , and we can all bitch and moan from time to time about Carl Peterson and the front office staff, but this is why he has more knowledge about football and how it works on the management side of things in his little pinky than you or I do in our entire bodies. That sentence should make for some interesting comments.
Braden Albert will be our new left tackle this coming season, the Chiefs went on to take Barry Richardson, tackle out of Clemson in the sixth round. So what does all this mean? Well, who knows really, we still have a lot of free agent rookies to sign and veterans that still are going to be cut at some time before the start of the season, but my best guess right now is this; Branden Albert LT, Brian Waters LG, Rudy Niswanger C, Damion McIntosh RG, and Barry Richardson or Will Svitek battling it out for the RT position.
The Chiefs went on to replace the horrid Ty Law with corner back Brandon Flowers out of Virginia Tech. Yet another wonderful move by Carl, Bill and Herm. Mike Mayock from the NFL Network who I’ve mentioned before and like his analysis, said that he had Brandon Flowers rated his best corner back in the draft. Look for Brandon to come in on day one and fill the void (well, position really, the word “void” makes it sound like Ty was productive) at corner back.
The rest of the guys will have every opportunity for playing time, all they have to do is show some heart and possess the ability to play the game—that wouldn’t hurt either. Be sure to check out Adam’s informative Day Two Recap to get a better idea of who the Chiefs selected on day two. Remember this, Jarrad Page was drafted in the seventh round. So any of the men drafted on Sunday could be a starter come September.
I’m rejuvenated fellow Chiefs fans, I feel happy once more about the direction the Chiefs are going after this draft. How do you feel?
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Now can we get them signed without wanting to kill Carl Peterson. Please the last thing we need are mean spirited contract negotiations by C.P.
April 28th, 2008 at 4:59 amYeah, he hasn’t been too bad the last couple of years. I think DJ got in a couple days into camp and so did Bowe, so let’s keep our fingers crossed that we can get all of them into camp and ready to go. Especially the first 3!
April 28th, 2008 at 5:32 amI just want to remind all the chief’s fans out there about a certain few posts about how much “some people” hate the chief’s decision not to sign any free agents during the free agent period. You guys remember that?
Funny how the chiefs or “cheaps” as someone here likes to call them, chose not to use any cap space on veteran free agents, none of which really deserved a good look. Now, by some random fluke, we have all this money left over. Lucky too, because we just happen to have two first round picks and a bag of draft picks that need signing.
Carl is in charge for a reason. It’s his job to run this team and sometimes we as fans need to let him do his thing. He is a smart man with a plan for this team, he will get everyone signed and lead this team through its plan.
April 28th, 2008 at 6:07 amTim, excellent point. Carl does not have a pleasant history on signing first rounders in time for training camp. Some would say that Carl was in part responsible for the Ryan Sims implosion by crazy tough negotiations prior to training camp.
This is the year to impress us fans and get these guys into camp on day #1…let’s hope Carl is prepared to do this. After all, drafting the talent is only 1/2 of the battle - getting them signed and integrated is the other.
April 28th, 2008 at 6:51 amim sure you all heard the interview, but Dorsey was saying his number 1 priority was to get the deal done with as little hastle as possible… Seriously though, its really not that big a deal in the grand scheme of things if the picks are some practices/games behind, its a 2-4 year plan and in the end getting them signed at a good price for the Chiefs is more important than getting them in ASAP - Carl actually looks pretty smart in the whole situation; got 2 good years out of Allen while he was playing for candy corn and then cashed him in for picks when Allen would have cost 10s of millions for his services.
April 28th, 2008 at 7:13 amSome great points. Something tells me we might have most or all of these guys in camp on day one. What other rookie’s have the opportunity, ALL of them, to come in and actually be considered for their positions? None other than our rebuilding the Chiefs. I am also excited to see what the tigger WR can do on kick returns. He looks fast and smart. Should be better than Dante I think.
April 28th, 2008 at 8:14 amI had tears in my eyes when Dorsey fell to us! Does that make me sensitive or just a true FAN?
April 28th, 2008 at 10:13 amCarl Has his ups and downs, but mostly I approve of his moves. His only flaw (admittedly by him) was that he did not address his offensive line soon enough.
I know Dorsey is a freakin stud, I am excited about that, but my favorite pick is Brandon Flowers!! He is easily our best CB now. Did you read his Q&A on the Chief’s website. The man is brimming with confidence. I can’t wait to see him level some hits on receivers. I can’t wait to see him play!
By the way, If Mcintosh is moved, it will be to RT, not RG IMO. Why have two inexperienced guys battle it out for RT, when D Mac is experienced and did a decent job at LT.
We should still sign Shane Olivea!
April 28th, 2008 at 11:28 amWell, I can stand up and say I was one of the critics about the lack of activity in the FA market. After this past weekend, I am very humble about what transpired. Probably the move of the weekend was to jump up to 15 and grab Brandon Albert! The first 3 picks look like starters from day 1 but the remaining list of the “Dirty Dozen” appear to major contributors. This mornings list of FA signings is also encouraging. Clearly, River Falls this year will have folks flying around!!!! Carl, get em into camp (please)!!!!!
April 28th, 2008 at 11:32 amHere are the new Guy’s Jersey Numbers:
Glenn Dorsey 72
April 28th, 2008 at 1:31 pmBranden Albert 76
Brandon Flowers 20
Jamaal Charles 29
Brad Cotton 87
Dujaun Morgan 38
Will Franklin 85
Brandon Carr 39
Barry Richardson 67
Kevin Robinson 14
Brian Johnston 97
Michael Merrit 45
I’ve said it for a long time. I argued with several on here about being patient. In my dreams I didn’t expect it to be this good. Sweet Jesus what a good draft!
On another fun not, I listen to STL sports radio all the time and nearly 100% of the callers were bitching that the rams didn’t take dorsey. Rams got a good one in Long, but none of them seem to acknowledge that, and its cracking me up.
April 28th, 2008 at 4:10 pmnote
April 28th, 2008 at 4:10 pmwhat is the deal with richardson? did he get in trouble i keep hearing that he wouldve gone earlier but… WHY? also carr will play alot this year IMO i feel real good about him i mean no tds against in THREE YEARS, i know it was in div2 and all but holy hell
April 28th, 2008 at 5:33 pmPeople are concerned about his drive. Evidently he told one of his clemson coaches he’d rather be at the movies during a football game or something like that, hopefully herm will light a fire under him.
April 28th, 2008 at 8:16 pmMaybe I am just being overly optimistic, but I think there is a fair chance all 12 picks will be signed for training camp. The fact that the #1 draft pick is already signed is a huge difference from last year’s prolonged holdout; J. Long’s contract set the top of the scale before the draft. In addition, I think both the Chiefs and their draft picks want to get everybody signed and with as little hassle as possible; our top picks’ agents do not seem to have a rep. for long holdouts. Finally, there is going to be so much competition at nearly all positions both to make the team and to start that no player is going to want to start at a disadvantage.
The Chiefs do have to wait to find out what their rookie pool cap is, as I understand it, before they can go very far. Don’t know when they find this out.
Jeremy/guys, did you notice the difference between the jersey numbers of our 2 TE picks. Brad Cottam is clearly the new Jason Dunn. Sort of looks to me like Mike Merritt is being looked at as the “move FB” Kuharich mentioned in his 4/30 podcast to take advantage of his “phenomenal, unbelievable” blocking ability. Understand Merritt was the point of attack blocker for Central Florida’s running back who ran for so many yards and was drafted pretty high–can’t remember his name, stats or who drafted him. Anyway, how cool would it be if our final pick were to be the one to lead the way at the point of attack for LJ and the rest of our RBs!
You know, with every new little bit of information I learn about these picks and how they fit into the Chiefs’ thinking, I just grow more and more inpressed with the Chiefs’ draft acumen and the draft class and more and more stoked to see this multi-year rebuild all unfold. I am just glad we had such a good opportunity to upgrade our season ticket seats in late March, while everyone was so despondent and so many elected to let theirs lapse. You know, it is possible some of our home games won’t even be sold out/televised.
GET THOSE TICKETS WHILE YOU CAN, FELLOWS! IT IS THE DAWN OF A NEW AND BRIGHTER DAY!
May 4th, 2008 at 4:12 pmThe Central Florida RB’s name is Kevin Smith, in 2007 he rushed for 2566 yeards–just 62 yeards shy of Barry Sanders’ all-time, single season, NCAA record–and he was the R3 (#64) pick of the Detroit Lions,in the NFC North “black and blue” Division. I figure Smith owes Merritt a portion of his signing bonus.
May 4th, 2008 at 4:34 pm