The Kansas City Chiefs Will Not And Should Not Bring In Many New Free Agents

[...] The Kansas City Chiefs Will Not And Should Not Bring In Many New Free Agents We all continue to sit around hoping that the lockout is going to end soon. As we cling to any bits of optimism we can find most people seem to think that they will come to an agreement sooner rather than later. That mindset has led to an increase in… [...]

jimfromkcj, Franklin wanted to leave Balt. because he was a reserve there and his former d-cord (Nolan) was the HC in SF and he knew he'd start there.  The 49ers used the franchise tag on Franklin last year and he held out of camp because he was upset they wouldn't give him a long term deal.  Speculation was that if they franchised him again he might have held out even longer.  Regardless, the fact that he is a NT that is good enough to even consider using the franchise tag on makes comparing him to Edwards laughable.  Edwards is a borderline starter/rotation player, Franklin is considered one of the better 3-4 NTs in the game.  Yes, he probably only has a couple good seasons left in him, but if that is our one real hole on defense and we need to spend money anyway to meet the salary floor it makes sense.

A safety isn't always the last line of defense. Eric Berry, for instance, often charges the line to make plays in the running game. Guys like Berry sometimes even make tackles in the backfield. So he could miss a few here and there and they won't always necessarily end in disaster. Consequently, a guy like Mike Brown can rack up 100 tackles simply because the defense is so bad he is always on the field. He could take a bad angle, not get a tackle or a missed tale and give up a touchdown. Tackle numbers are just a poor indication of how a player is performing. As for Newsome's reputation as a talent evaluator, well, that doesn't really have anything to do with whether or not Franklyn is a good player. Smart football people make stupid football decisions all the time. The Colts CUT Ryan Lilja and in my opinion, he was KC's best offensive lineman last year. I'm not saying Franklyn is or is not the right way to go. Quite frankly, I don't know enough about the player to make a call one way or the other. But I am trying to point out things aren't always black and white.

Well, you were right about one thing: I did laugh. "I know there will be those of you out there that will laugh at the whole idea of trying to preserve the “team unity” at the expense of upgrading talent."

Tackles don't really tell you how good a player is. Mike Brown had a ton of tackles playing safety for the Chiefs. He had more than Eric Berry had last year. Who was the better safety? Mike Brown had a bunch of tackles because Corey Mays had a bunch of missed tackles. You can sometimes tell a little bit about a player by tackle count but it is a poor measuring stick.

great post.. I agree almost wholeheartedly the only person I would add to your list of people to possibly go after is Steve Breaston.

jimfromkcj, I just spent like 10 minutes typing a response to your comment with multiple links and all and it didn't post for some reason.  I'll try and recap. I appreciate you reading and commenting, but I think you're wrong on several fronts.  First, if you've read my previous posts you'll see I've dug into the numbers for several of the league's best NTs and Franklins are up there with the best in the league.  If you click on my name on the right side column under AA staff my article titled "More KC Chiefs NT Talk" says about all I need to in terms of validating my man crush on Franklin and proving that I do lots of research into my posts.  I also did a post that described exactly how the Chiefs could sign Franklin to a contract and not be hurt long term when his play drops off in a few years, it actually has Franklin's name in the title. The two main points I would like to stress are that NT are evaluated by how they eat up blockers NOT by their tackles and sacks (see Casey Hampton) and around the league Franklin is considered one of the best at it.  Second, I love a good debate and will always take time to consider opposing view points.  You can however, rest assured that I've put the proper time and research into my posts before I take a stand in writing, regardless of if you agree with the conclusion I came to or not.  Thanks again for reading.

we must pay our own, from carr and flowers, to hali...pay our own, we have the talent already. fill some depth issues in FA, but I even think with guys off IR etc, we have enough in most positions

Good stuff, although you once again made the heinous mistake of disagreeing with me (how dare you?).  rapid-fire reactions! : 1) Aubrayo Franklin would likely be more expensive than anyone Pioli has yet brought in, would he not?  combined with Matt Light, that wouldn't exactly be sitting on his hands.  2) A bunch of new faces may not be necessary, but the Chiefs have to make sure they get their share of the talent that is available, or fall behind (at least as far as talent is concerned).  It's a zero-sum game.  Having said that, I actually am OK (though not thrilled) with our WRs and more than OK with our linebackers (provided Vrabel is shown the door).  3) Love that raised floor concept.  Not because I think the Chiefs will actually meet it (they didn't in '09), but because it gives me all kinds of ammo when Clunt won't even spend the minimum. 4) The lack of prep-time for free agents is a very valid point.  However, we've seen the results when the Chiefs pick familiarity over talent, and it isn't usually pretty.  At some point I think you just have to get talented, hardworking players and assume they'll fit.  After all, Chris Chambers was much better for us fresh off the street than he was when he'd had a whole training camp under his belt.  5) If nothing else, you've got to hope these rookies will be signed as soon as its allowed.  God knows we've got the $$.  If the Chiefs delay those signings to haggle better deals, well.......I'll be writing an article about it, lets put it that way.

jimfromkcj,
Franklin wanted to leave Balt. because he was a reserve there and his former d-cord (Nolan) was the HC in SF and he knew he'd start there.  The 49ers used the franchise tag on Franklin last year and he held out of camp because he was upset they wouldn't give him a long term deal.  Speculation was that if they franchised him again he might have held out even longer.  Regardless, the fact that he is a NT that is good enough to even consider using the franchise tag on makes comparing him to Edwards laughable.  Edwards is a borderline starter/rotation player, Franklin is considered one of the better 3-4 NTs in the game.  Yes, he probably only has a couple good seasons left in him, but if that is our one real hole on defense and we need to spend money anyway to meet the salary floor it makes sense.

A safety isn't always the last line of defense. Eric Berry, for instance, often charges the line to make plays in the running game. Guys like Berry sometimes even make tackles in the backfield. So he could miss a few here and there and they won't always necessarily end in disaster.
Consequently, a guy like Mike Brown can rack up 100 tackles simply because the defense is so bad he is always on the field. He could take a bad angle, not get a tackle or a missed tale and give up a touchdown. Tackle numbers are just a poor indication of how a player is performing.
As for Newsome's reputation as a talent evaluator, well, that doesn't really have anything to do with whether or not Franklyn is a good player. Smart football people make stupid football decisions all the time. The Colts CUT Ryan Lilja and in my opinion, he was KC's best offensive lineman last year.
I'm not saying Franklyn is or is not the right way to go. Quite frankly, I don't know enough about the player to make a call one way or the other.
But I am trying to point out things aren't always black and white.

Well, you were right about one thing: I did laugh.
"I know there will be those of you out there that will laugh at the whole idea of trying to preserve the “team unity” at the expense of upgrading talent."

Tackles don't really tell you how good a player is. Mike Brown had a ton of tackles playing safety for the Chiefs. He had more than Eric Berry had last year. Who was the better safety?
Mike Brown had a bunch of tackles because Corey Mays had a bunch of missed tackles.
You can sometimes tell a little bit about a player by tackle count but it is a poor measuring stick.

jimfromkcj,
I just spent like 10 minutes typing a response to your comment with multiple links and all and it didn't post for some reason.  I'll try and recap.
I appreciate you reading and commenting, but I think you're wrong on several fronts.  First, if you've read my previous posts you'll see I've dug into the numbers for several of the league's best NTs and Franklins are up there with the best in the league.  If you click on my name on the right side column under AA staff my article titled "More KC Chiefs NT Talk" says about all I need to in terms of validating my man crush on Franklin and proving that I do lots of research into my posts.  I also did a post that described exactly how the Chiefs could sign Franklin to a contract and not be hurt long term when his play drops off in a few years, it actually has Franklin's name in the title.
The two main points I would like to stress are that NT are evaluated by how they eat up blockers NOT by their tackles and sacks (see Casey Hampton) and around the league Franklin is considered one of the best at it.  Second, I love a good debate and will always take time to consider opposing view points.  You can however, rest assured that I've put the proper time and research into my posts before I take a stand in writing, regardless of if you agree with the conclusion I came to or not.  Thanks again for reading.

Good stuff, although you once again made the heinous mistake of disagreeing with me (how dare you?). 
rapid-fire reactions! :
1) Aubrayo Franklin would likely be more expensive than anyone Pioli has yet brought in, would he not?  combined with Matt Light, that wouldn't exactly be sitting on his hands. 
2) A bunch of new faces may not be necessary, but the Chiefs have to make sure they get their share of the talent that is available, or fall behind (at least as far as talent is concerned).  It's a zero-sum game.  Having said that, I actually am OK (though not thrilled) with our WRs and more than OK with our linebackers (provided Vrabel is shown the door). 
3) Love that raised floor concept.  Not because I think the Chiefs will actually meet it (they didn't in '09), but because it gives me all kinds of ammo when Clunt won't even spend the minimum.
4) The lack of prep-time for free agents is a very valid point.  However, we've seen the results when the Chiefs pick familiarity over talent, and it isn't usually pretty.  At some point I think you just have to get talented, hardworking players and assume they'll fit.  After all, Chris Chambers was much better for us fresh off the street than he was when he'd had a whole training camp under his belt. 
5) If nothing else, you've got to hope these rookies will be signed as soon as its allowed.  God knows we've got the $$.  If the Chiefs delay those signings to haggle better deals, well.......I'll be writing an article about it, lets put it that way.

Well, you were right about one thing: I did laugh.

"I know there will be those of you out there that will laugh at the whole idea of trying to preserve the “team unity” at the expense of upgrading talent."

great post.. I agree almost wholeheartedly the only person I would add to your list of people to possibly go after is Steve Breaston.

Lyle, do you ever look up the stats that a player has put up before jumping on a bandwagon.? I looked Franklyn's stats and they were truly underwealming. He is a 6'1" 317 lb NT with 9 yrs of NFL experience and 30 years old. During those 9 years he has a grand total of 149 tackles and 4 sacks. That is not the kind of player I want to see hitting the KC Chief's jackpot. I doubt i would trade Big Ron for him even up.

we must pay our own, from carr and flowers, to hali...pay our own, we have the talent already. fill some depth issues in FA, but I even think with guys off IR etc, we have enough in most positions

Good stuff, although you once again made the heinous mistake of disagreeing with me (how dare you?). 

rapid-fire reactions! :

1) Aubrayo Franklin would likely be more expensive than anyone Pioli has yet brought in, would he not?  combined with Matt Light, that wouldn't exactly be sitting on his hands. 

2) A bunch of new faces may not be necessary, but the Chiefs have to make sure they get their share of the talent that is available, or fall behind (at least as far as talent is concerned).  It's a zero-sum game.  Having said that, I actually am OK (though not thrilled) with our WRs and more than OK with our linebackers (provided Vrabel is shown the door). 

3) Love that raised floor concept.  Not because I think the Chiefs will actually meet it (they didn't in '09), but because it gives me all kinds of ammo when Clunt won't even spend the minimum.

4) The lack of prep-time for free agents is a very valid point.  However, we've seen the results when the Chiefs pick familiarity over talent, and it isn't usually pretty.  At some point I think you just have to get talented, hardworking players and assume they'll fit.  After all, Chris Chambers was much better for us fresh off the street than he was when he'd had a whole training camp under his belt. 

5) If nothing else, you've got to hope these rookies will be signed as soon as its allowed.  God knows we've got the $$.  If the Chiefs delay those signings to haggle better deals, well.......I'll be writing an article about it, lets put it that way.