Going From Here

Just some assorted thoughts from yours truly after an exciting pair of days.  You’ve already heard the great news and the blessings in disguise, so here’s some thoughts I’ve had on moves made by the Kansas City Chiefs, and moves they can still consider.

Thoughts on a couple of moves we’ve made:

• Easily, bar none, my favorite signing of this entire offseason by the Chiefs (inlcuding the Breaston deal) has been signing DE/DT Brandon Bair of Oregon.  I’m telling you, Addicts, we’ve got a guy who is going to make Allen Bailey’s life hell chasing for a roster spot this year.  There was absolutely no reason this guy shouldn’t have been drafted other than his age (26 years old).  You absolutely do not get better size in a 3-4 DE than Bair.  You absolutely do not get better character than him.  And his production at Oregon was always really strong.  There’s a great little read on him at the mothership.
• We let Sweet Ron Edwards go.  Sad to see him go, but was necessary.  According to Arrowhead Pride, the Chiefs put up a little bit of resistance to letting him go, but the Panthers understandably wanted him more.  I personally want to wish Ron a fond farewell — he was brought in off the street by Herm Edwards as a stopgap, and he did his job.  From 2006 through 2010, he provided decent passrushing up the gut.  But we never got depth behind him, a fact he once publicly complained about and deservedly so.  Edwards always wore down late in the season as a result, every year.  I hope they provide him depth in Carolina.  He was never that great of a nose tackle, but he was a pretty good Chief.
• Love that we resigned Travis Daniels.  Daniels played pretty well as a dimeback, and is one of those enthusiastic players you need on the back end of your roster when someone goes down.  We’re also building a very tight knitted group in the secondary, and Daniels is clearly one of the crew (he’s #34 in the above photo).  Unless fourth round draft pick Jalil Brown is some sort of prodigy, I expect Daniels to take the #4 corner spot on the roster over him, settling Brown comfortably into the #5 spot while he gets up to speed.
• The Breaston acquisition feeds into what I’ve written about before: players love playing for Todd Haley.  Kurt Warner publicly complained about the Cardinals losing their sense of urgency when Haley left.  Larry Fitzgerald has written about how he’d love to play for Haley again.  Same with Anquan Boldin.  Leonard Pope, Lance Moore, and now Steve Breaston have followed Haley to KC at some point.Som

Some moves we might consider at this point, now that the free agency pool is drying up, after the jump:

• My #1 desire at this point is for the Chiefs to acquire one of two nose tackles: Chris Hoke out of Pittsburgh, or Pat Williams of the Vikings.  I’ve come out against us pursuing Aubrayo Franklin, because I think he’s too bad of a deal that’s going to handcuff any future moves we want to make at the nose tackle position.  Hoke and Williams are two hardened vets with a year or two left in them who can hold the spot down until we land a legit franchise NT or until sixth rounder Jerrell Powe comes along.
• Tons of great UDFA still abound.  S Deunta Williams of North Carolina is a ball hawk of a safety, North Carolina State OLB Stevan Friday is an athletic beast with tons of upside, but is about as raw as they come.  They remain as my favorite talents.  TCU’s C Jake Kirkpatrick is still on the market as well.
• Do whatever you can to bring Brandon Carr in.  There have been some odd reports that the Chiefs are interested in Bengals CB Johnathan Joseph.  Carr himself has tweeted that he’s stuck in limbo with the team.  I’m still of the belief that the Chiefs aren’t interested in bringing Carr back for 2012… but he’s a must-have necessity for this season.
• Sign RB Jason Snelling of the Falcons.  As I’ve written before, Snelling has a few moves in his repetoire, but the best thing you’re getting with him is a reliable four yards a carry, a Red Zone threat, and a very good route runner for a big back.
• The Chiefs made a good move in getting a lot of offensive line talent in rookie free agency, but they still need a vet to step in at tackle and push both Brandon Albert and Barry Richardson.  Both Jeremy Trueblood and James Lee of the Bucs have connections to offensive coordinator Bill Muir, who helped draft both of them in Tampa.  If the market continues to dry up, Matt Light might panic, and the Chiefs could score him for a good deal.
• S Brodney Poole of the Jets can play both safety positions, and would finally give us the depth at safety we’ve needed for years. 
• A veteran QB is a necessity in case the worst case scenario happens and Matt Cassel goes down.  Of the remaining talent, Billy Volek of the Chargers is probably the only remaining viable option, which isn’t great, but you can’t have Ricky Stanzi out there in 2011.  I’m hoping that Chad Pennington recovers quickly from breaking his arm, he’d be an effective, super-cheap option with tons of experience.