Allow me, in four meager words, to describe my feelings in the Kansas City Chiefs’ acqusitions of free agent center Casey Wiegmann and free agent guard Ryan Lilja:
Zach Thomas, Amani Toomer.
I’m not doing this to make waves, but as the entire Chiefs blogosphere and even major players in KC media promote this selection as another bargain move for GM Scott Pioli, I can’t help but think of last season when Chiefs fans were blown away by the fact that players like Thomas and Toomer were attracted to this franchise last year.
We’re the Chiefs, after all, a franchise that’s been notorious to having to overpay to bring big names to our smallish market.
But Thomas and Toomer were signings that mirror this year’s, and they came with their own question marks. Both were old, in their outermost twilight, and had major injury questions. And neither player made it past the preseason.
Wiegmann is unquestionably facing the last year in the NFL, and Lilja was just released by a team whose owner said needed OL help, and saw releasing Lilja as more of the problem than a solution.
Matter of fact, we can probably compare these signings to someone even more relevant that we released this exact same offseason: Mike Goff. In fact it does seem that Pioli is trying to patch this OL up through free agency yet again, like the Chiefs always do, rather than invest too many picks there.
This is what the Chiefs are always going to do under Pioli, it seems. Hope that someone in the outermost twilight pans out.
Don’t get your hopes up with these signings. We may get a Chris Chambers here or there (in my opinion, that’ll be Thomas Jones), but for every Chambers, there’s going to be a half dozen Mike Browns.
FanSided Sports Blog
Kings of Kauffman
NFL Mocks
Stock Car Spin
Bolt Beat
Just Blog Baby
Predominantly Orange
Ramblin' Fan
Loading ...
Booooo!
The Crock Pot is back.
Lilja is 28, and far from his last leg. Lilja is not far from his best year either. Weigman is only a year removed from an incredible season.
Thomas and Toomer were far away from thier best seasons when they signed. There is still life left in our new FAs, especially in Lilja. (Lilja has to have a chip on his shoulder for being let go; and I like players with chips on their shoulders, a la Marcus Allen, Priest Holmes, Chris Chambers, Thomas Jones, etc.).
The Chiefs still wont sit on these two O-line signings. You can expect a late pick to help the O-line or another free agent pick up.
Wouldn’t you agree our Offense is better than it was last year already?
I don’t know. I really think keeping Niswanger and letting Wade Smith go was a disasterous decision considering Smith was our best center and sometimes even our best guard throughout the year. Wiegmann I flip a coin on, but I have no idea what to make of the Lilja signing. The Colts released him while claiming they desperately need more talent along the OL.
So I’m not sure what to make of them letting Lilja go. Honestly I would have preferred the Chiefs just giving Colin Brown a shot at RG.
Our OL at the end of last year:
LT: Albert, Smith/Richardson
LG: Waters, Smith/Alleman
C: Niswanger, Smith
RG: Smith, Alleman
RT: O’Callaghan, Ndukwe
Right now…
LT: Albert, Richardson
LG: Waters, Harris
C: Wiegmann, Niswanger
RG: Lilja, Brown
RT: O’Callaghan, Ndukwe
Obviously LT, LG, and RT are the same for now. And I think center will have gotten better — even a 40-year-old Wiegmann is better than Niswanger. And our depth has taken a big hit — now our backups are unproven guys like Harris and Brown, and Niswanger backs us up at center. The loss of Wade Smith hurt — I would have paid him starter money just to hang around when an injury comes. The guy has played four positions for us.
Andrew:
I think you are pretty close on the Wiegmann signing. I like him, but at best he is a 1-2 year stop gap.
Letting Wade Smith go was disappointing. He was so versatile and played well when he got in the game. I wish him the best.
Couldn’t agree more his theory seems to be let’s sign a bunch of washed up veterans at a low cost and hope one works out
Dead wrong here friend.
I agree that Weigmann is a risky move and as I have said before, Pioli better not be putting all his eggs in Weigmann’s basket but the Lilja singing may be one of the best moves any team made all offseason.
He is 28 and is coming from a Super Bowl team who I believe and I will have to check on this, gave up the least amount of sacks in the league last season.
Lilja is a scapegoat for the Colts shitty running game. Even if he was the worst G on the Colts he is at least the 2nd best G on the Chiefs and the first is Waters.
I agree that Pioli needs to be careful about just bringing in old guys at the end of the road but his moves this offseason have been pretty damn good.
Come on man, Goff was already in his 30’s already and so yes Wiegmannis like what you say but Lilja’s only 28 man and you can’t compare him with the rest.
Well we basically swapped an under achiever (Alleman) for an over achiever (Lilja) who has a coveted ring. Our back up tackles are so slow footed they shouldn’t be on the practice squad, let alone the roster. The jury is out on Casey at center, and Waters is suspect after last years performance. So with an incredible suspect o-line you want to dance in the street-go ahead. Being close minded with fanlove ain’t for me, I see the need for o-line is bigger than you think. Any improvement that we can bring in is okay with me. I believe both free agent o-lineman will help but how much is unknown and for how many games?
I haven’t suggested that I was satisfied with the OL.
I’m just saying that instead of putting Wiegmann and Lilja out there in what is flirting with a Mike Goff type situation, I would have rather seen us stick with Wade Smith, put Darryl Harris or Colin Brown in, and pick up a lineman or two in the Draft.
I’m not necessarily complaining about the pickups. They make us a little deeper. But it’s not a game-changer.
The free agents signed from other teams this offseason have a common denominator: they know how to work. They can show the young players on the team how its done. I agree we should be cautiously optimistic, as should every fan of every team this time of year. When Goff was signed, the feeling was that the Chargers weren’t too upset to see him go and knew he was done. I’m not so sure if Lilja is the same situation, but he’s no Will Shields either (nobody is). Colin Brown could have an awesome camp and take that RG spot, but Lilja’s experience should prevent that from happening. One thing I do know: if Pioli takes Bulaga, I will be pretty disappointed. It would be essentially taking a RT at 5th overall. Tackles will be flying off the board in the first round, but its a deep position and can be addressed in later rounds.
I really wish we could have held onto Wade Smith.
But one thing’s for sure: at least Herm gave his draft picks a chance. I think Colin Brown deserves a chance from Todd Haley.
Come on now, you are really comparing signing Lilja and Wiegmann to Zach Thomas and Amani Toomer? I’m sorry I just don’t see it. Lilja was good enough to be a big part of TWO Super Bowl teams, and he’s only 28. Yeah he was released, but as it has been said, he was cut because he was smaller than what the Colts wanted. Well, the Chiefs have a smaller line. Heck, we made Albert lose like 30 pounds last year. Lilja will fit right in and make Matt Cassel a lot less pressured. I can see the Wiegmann comparison, except that he is much closer to playing well than Thomas was. At the very least he will be a vital teacher to whoever the center is that I assume we will draft. I think Pioli deserves credit for this offseason. He’s made a lot of solid signings. Lots of low risk high reward guys that have a real chance to work out. What did you want them to do, pull a Redskins and bring in every WAY overpaid free agent? The contracts all are considered really good value, let’s not bash Pioli.
I mean, Whitlock is praising the Chiefs for this offseason. Its a sad day when Whitlock is on the positive side of an argument, and Chiefs fans are on the negitive.
GO CHIEFS!!
MoCan2,
You make some interesting points. I owe you a beer if you’re right.
Hello Debbie Downer, I’m Johnny. LOL I have to agree with the other guys Andrew, I think these are good pick ups.
I had hope for Wade Smith as well, he did a yeoman’s job filling in at three positions last year, arguably playing better than the starters. What scares me is Waters. His game was off and if it remains so we are in big trouble, unless we draft Okung or Baluga and slide Albert over. And I am not ready to move Albert.