This isn’t rebuilding. It’s reconstruction.

Home » Chiefs » This isn’t rebuilding. It’s reconstruction.

This is a point I’ve made numerous times and I feel compelled to go on the record once more, as I sense the growing frustration made over the relative inactivity of the Chiefs during the opening days of free agency.

Stories like letting Chambers walk are frustrating enough, to say nothing of the fact that the Chicago Bears have apparently spent the Chiefs’ entire payroll on three free agents. Yeesh.

It’s maddening to most fans, and that’s understandable. We want the Chiefs to “win,” whatever the competition may be. The Chiefs are at the table with more money than any other team in the league right now, which is great because this was intended to be one of the most insane spending offseasons we’d expect to see. So other than a failed effort for Anquan Boldin, the Chiefs have sat on their hands, reluctant to drastically overpay for any talent, refusing to offer paydays for castoff veterans in their twilight years like King Carl did (with maybe one exception), and hesitant to spend any of their Draft picks to bring in new blood. That’s why we see stories popping up on Arrowhead Pride begging the Chiefs to be more aggressive. I don’t have to explain this to you.

But that lack of aggression, as I have early and often in the offseason, serves us well. January 15th:

There is perhaps no more important offseason for the Chiefs rebuilding effort than this offseason, because it is so rife with problems. The lack of an agreement between the players and the league likely means that almost all meaningful free agents will be held onto by their current teams. The few players that do make it to the market will have the entire league competing for them.

This means that these players will likely be vastly overpaid in accordance to their ability — which is fine if a team is one or two pieces away from a championship run. But if a team is in the budding stage of rebuilding, as we are, every dollar we overpay today is a dollar we can’t pay when we’re looking for the final pieces in a couple years. The less we participate in this offseason’s free agency pool, the better.

My opinion doesn’t change simply because some of the players that were available looked pretty good. Julius Peppers, Carlos Dansby, Anquan Boldin, etc. It’s free agency, there are players that look great every year. I guarantee you, 12 months from now, the Chiefs blogosphere will be drooling over someone else, determined that whoever he is will be an essential part to our 2011 Super Bowl run.

You have to think in longer terms.

We have a lot of money now, but that doesn’t justify making the top free agent safety the highest-paid safety in NFL history. We have a lot of draft picks now, but that doesn’t justify spending two picks that we sorely need to obtain any one player. This offseason offers exactly zero good deals for teams like us. Not forcing a deal is more than simply being cheap or conservative, it is being smart.

You have to readjust your thinking — we don’t have Carl Peterson anymore. We are not in the middle of a rebuilding process, where we just need to start restocking talent. This is a complete reconstruction, and in the budding stages of it.

This is going to take a while, but when we get to the point where this team is playoffs- and Super Bowl-competitive, it will be able to stay there longer because it’s avoided making deals like the ones we’ve been seeing in this offseason’s shark-infested waters.

krayfish

I think the issue many have with this FA so far is this; Its the trend! What trend? Well there’s a saying that goes “fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice shame on me”. But there’s no saying for “fool me for 40 years shame on….” Trends.

The Chiefs have not participated in a SB since two years removed from when blacks were a rare commodity in the NFL. Two years removed from when blacks had to drink from a different water fountain than whites. A lot has changed, including the game of football.

We have watched this organization do the same thing for 40 years now. And when you watch a team do the same thing over and over and over for 40 years; mind you its been forty years and yes, that’s 39 +1 year, you start to get it. After all, that’s a long ass time to observe anything. That’s long enough to establish a trend.

Lets pretend you and I have never heard of the sport of football. WE know absolutely NOTHING about it. For all we know it could be played with a tire jack and a golf ball. We have just been assigned the task of studying the sport and finding the best role model organization that football has to offer. Since we know nothing about the sport, the first thing I would do is learn a little about what its World Series equivelant is.

We would eventually find that the ultimate goal for every organization, team and fan of football is to win the Superbowl.

So I think it would a logical approach to things to assume that if you found the organization(s) that had acheived that goal the most times over all the years the sport has been in existence, that would be a good organziation to start with as your possible role model.

That would bring us to the Steelers, and a very, very close second place Cowboys club. These two orgnaizations have not just won the most superbowls EVER, they have done it consistently over time.

They didn’t win all their rings in the 70’s only. Nor did they win them all in the 80’s only. They consistently win superbowl rings over time. Something we do not know how to do here in KC.

Whereas those organizations have a formula for winning that brings them back to the Superbowl almost on schedule; time and again, like a merry go round, we have a proven formual for failure.

Those teams dip out occasionally, and yes, they have their rebuilding years. But they proven that they can be trusted to put out a good to elite product almost every year with admittedly, some exceptions.

But overall, their fans can always hold out hope that they will see another superbowl in their lifetime. They can count on it. That’s called a trend also.

Its the exact opposite of the trend that we have here in KC. Please understand that I am so loyal to the Chiefs, that if Al Davis bought the Chiefs, I would still love them, and only them.

Doesn’t matter to me, because I’m a lifer. A die hard fan. Win or lose that’s my team. But it doesn’t mean I have to close my eyes to the truth about our organization either.

Our owners have established a pattern, or trend with the way they build our team here in Kansas City.

A trend I might add, that is well known to our enemies in the NFL. I live in Florida. This is a melting pot of people. There are people here from all over the country. And I can promise you that the most consistent answers I get with regards to how they feel about our team is this; our team is NEVER going to be considered a legitimate threat to win a SB. EVER!

We are one of those teams, that when opposing team's fans hear their playing the us in the playoffs, first they probably have to ask “what” again because they can’t believe it since it never happens. Secondly, they celebrate because they know we couldn't win a playoff game if Jesus himself were our QB.

That’s a trend here. We are known as a cheapskate organization to OTHER fans. Like it or not, them’s the facts. I didn’t say you had to feel that way. but I am telling you that I live in a melting pot here. And with all the fans of all the different teams that live here, they all say the same thing.

We’re punks. NO one takes this team seriously. Thanks to the Hunt family.

It all comes back to the owners. There is a philosiphy that obviously works over in Pittsburgh and in Dallas. There is also a philosiphy that is obviously flawed here in KC.

When you cant even win a playoff game in the span of time it takes for an infant to become a full grown adult, there is something wrong with your way of doing business.

Lamar may have been the man in an era where sideburns and Pintos with wood paneling were cool. But he got out evolved quickly. Athletes today don’t really and truly respect the athletes from back then the same way they do the athletes of today. The guys back then were mostly white, small and slow as a whole, compared to today.

The game is played very differently. The way the NFL has changed and grown into a monsterous mega business is so much different than it was, even 25 years ago.

Since then, teams like the Cardinals have been to their first SB. The Saints have too. I could go on. Other teams manage to do it. We don’t ever.

So eventually you become conditioned to the trend being that your ownership never has been, and never will be, known for spending big in FA….EVER! The same team that has not been to a SB since the civil rights movement. Eventually, you put two and two together and say “shouldn’t we do something different?? Like maybe once?? And see what happens?

And the excuse that players don’t want to play for losing teams is full of holes. That only holds true in a certain percentage of cases. Although sometimes that is truly the case, more often than not, it’s the money that gets the deal done. Ok? That’s the truth. If it weren’t the truth, then why did two FA’s go to the Lions? You can’t lose more games than they do. But their wheelin’ and dealin’just fine.

They got a new GM, new coach, and a new shiny QB, and they came out swinging to make an impression so that other FA’s might actually want to give the new regime a chance.

We never come out swinging. We never have. We wait until somebody is too old to be a starter somewhere else and then bargain hunt for them. And that NEVER WORKS either. As is evidenced by our dismal playoff and SB history. Right?

So no, we didn’t need to break the bank. We didn’t need to trade away all our draft picks to make a splash. All we had to do was show up once and show the league that we’re changing the trend here in KC. That’s its ok to come here, that we’ll pay you. And you’ll have a chance at that SB ring you want so much. WE can offer both. But no. We do nothing. Again. NOTHING.

That could still change. Your absolutley correct. And we could all be wrong about the lack of activity so far. That just may happen.

I am just beginning to doubt if this is even within Pioli's realm of authority to make happen. Say what you want but it is now and always will be the Hunt families money. So they will ALWAYS be in charge of how its spent. Wouldn't you?

And after 40 years of the same thing over and over, you tend to trust the trend.

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Kris

I 2nd tybme...well said. And I don't quite understand why people keep saying "we hear the same old story year after year." True in the Peterson era, but not true in the Pioli era. For the Pioli era, this is really the 'first' offseason due to the frantic late scramble last year. Pioli hasn't even had a chance to lie to us yet!

chiefsfan567

I dont think getting boldin For a 3 n 4 woulda been To much. We shoulda made home a chief

Andrew Crocker

There's next to zero chance the Chiefs take Bryant with the #5 overall. If he falls to their 2a pick, which is conceivable given all the red flags Bryant brings with him (questionable speed, goofy college scheme, no route running experience, the strange space between his ears), the Chiefs would undoubtedly consider him at 2a.

But he's not a Top 10 pick. Next year's WR crop is too good to gamble a 1st on Bryant.

Spillman69

What are the chances they are going Dez Bryant with #5?

I like the Charles / T Jones Combo. He would definitely be running behind a far less talented O-line, but I believe he has something left in the tank.

I don't know anything about the N.T. from Cincy. Is he good enough that the Chiefs should take N.T. of the list of draft needs?

Good post Andrew

chiefsfanatic

Its hard to be patient when we hear the same old story year after year.Its starting to get old for me and a lot of fans,but their my team and i will stick with them for life even though i dont like it.

tybme

Well said Andrew! I think we shall see plenty of turnover on this roster by September - insert whistling by Axle Rose here - we just have to be patient. ;-)