Gretz: Chiefs Have Only Seen “30% Improvement” Over Last Year

Bob Gretz runs one of the classier blogs with some of the more thoughtful commenters on the Chiefs blogosphere, so I hesitate to ever rag on the guy.  But his post today about the Kansas City Chiefs’ lack of improvement is not one of his better takes.

His exercise: compare the 2011 Chiefs at each position to last year’s 2010 playoff squad.  And  he concludes that 70% of the team hasn’t seen any improvement from last year.

It’s a statement I find highly dubious, largely because of assessments like this:

"Tight end – The faces at the top of the depth chart are familiar ones in Tony Moeaki, Leonard Pope and Jake O’Connell. The additions are last year’s practice squader Cody Slate and undrafted rookie free agent Charlie Gantt. Are the Chiefs better at tight end than they were last year? NO."

I don’t think this is a fair assessment, and Bob’s first commenter, “jerod,” explains why:

"Just because we didn’t go sign guys to those positions doesn’t mean we won’t be better than we were last year. Wouldn’t you rater have a 2nd year experienced Moeaki than a rookie?"

You took the jumbled words right out of my mouth, jerod, whomever thee be.  Moeaki was a rookie last year, this year he’s got a little experience on his side now.  I’d almost definitely consider that an upgrade.

Yes, the Chiefs acquired some great talent through the draft, and a select few value additions in free agency.  But the way this team will get dramatically better will not necessarily be in the new talent it brings in, but in developing the talent we already have.  That’s what will get this team better faster, and for longer.

Give Bob’s piece a look, and then perform the same exercise in comments: at what positions will the Chiefs see improvement?