AA’s Ask Me Anything: NFL Draft, Atlanta Chiefs, DeSean Jackson, And Fruity Pebbles vs Cocoa Puffs

Nov 3, 2013; Oakland, CA, USA; Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver

(10) celebrates after making a catch against the Oakland Raiders during the third quarter at O.co Coliseum. The Philadelphia Eagles defeated the Oakland Raiders 49-20. Mandatory Credit: Ed Szczepanski-USA TODAY Sports

Welcome to Arrowhead Addict’s inaugural “AA’s Ask Me Anything,” a name we in no way, shape, or form stole from Reddit. Nope. Totally did not steal it.

…we borrowed it.

We receive a lot of questions throughout the week about the Chiefs and sometimes it is hard to get to all of them at once. Hopefully we can answer those questions we miss here as well as have a fun conversation about other things going on in the world. Hey, it’s going to be a long off-season so we’re going to need something to talk about, no?

We go a great response to the initial call for questions so let’s get to it. Remember in the future to use the #AAMA hashtag to be sure your question gets through the Twitter muck.

Listening to John Dorsey‘s comments during his conference call yesterday would suggest to me the Chiefs are going to make at least one more move before the draft. Wide receiver is certainly high on the list but a free agent free safety probably isn’t. Kansas City made their free safety pickup when they re-signed Husain Abdullah.

Other positions the Chiefs could address would be offensive line depth and cornerback.

It would be a surprise at this point if the Chiefs did not try to add a wide receiver before the draft. Kansas City needs to overhaul the wide receiver group in a similar way they did the quarterback last off-season. The actions and rumors surrounding the Chiefs would suggest the front office is going to make an effort to revamp the wide receiver position.

The issue with the Chiefs isn’t that the need just one wide receiver – we’ll get to that later – but they need several wide receivers. There are too many question marks or flaws up and down the wide receiver depth chart after Dwayne Bowe. And even Bowe has his issues.

If I were a betting man – which I wish I was – I would put money on the Chiefs adding a wide receiver via free agency, through the draft, and in undrafted free agency before the start of training camp. This would mean four new wide receivers (including Weston Dressler) to compete with Donnie Avery, A.J. Jenkins, Junior Hemingway, and the practice squad guys. KC wouldn’t be adding star power but they would be adding depth, which is may be more valuable in Andy Reid‘s offense.

First, for Cody’s sake, he did immediately send a tweet reply correcting his “cheifs” typo. Don’t give him too much crap in the comments.

Jacoby Ford, the former Oakland Raiders receiver, and Darrius Heyward-Bey, another former Raider receiver, would make a ton of sense for the Chiefs. Both have a lot of speed, something Kansas City’s roster lacks, and both can create mismatches in certain situations.

Ford has proven to be very dynamic in the kick and punt return game and would be a tremendous weapon in Dave Toub’s system. At 5-9, he’s probably best suited for the Dexter McCluster role, which is open for now. A Ford vs. Dressler training camp battle would be great to watch, and would only mean good things for the Chiefs.

Heyward-Bey may make the most sense for the Chiefs, however. Kansas City doesn’t have a downfield guy who also has size. Donnie Avery is 5-11, A.J. Jenkins is barely 6-feet, and the other guys with size on the roster do not have good speed. Heyward Bey is 6-2, runs a 4.2 40, and is the only young receiver left on the market who has ever come close to a 1,000 yard season (975 yards in 2011).

Kansas City needs a guy who can stretch the field a bit and create a mismatch against small defensive backs. Heyward-Bey won’t be an All-Pro but he could at least give the Chiefs a positive matchup on the outside against teams with small corners. This is the guy who makes the most sense to me assuming the money is right.

Good news for the Chiefs is there are a lot of opponents NBC and ESPN will want to feature on their primetime broadcasts. Seattle, San Francisco, New England, and Denver – all four of last year’s conference championship game participants – are on the Chiefs schedule. On top of that the Chiefs have intriguing matchups with the New York Jets (major market), Pittsburgh Steelers (traditional power), and Miami Dolphins. Plus, we know the Kansas City is great for football television ratings.

One would think the Chiefs have an excellent shot of at least three primetime games – one Thursday night, one Sunday night, and one Monday night. The over/under on primetime games should probably be set at 3.5.

The big one could be a week one Sunday Night Football matchup between the Broncos and Chiefs at Arrowhead. There’s too much drama here for the networks to pass this opportunity up. Reigning AFC champion Denver and Peyton Manning against a 2013 playoff team featuring Jamaal Charles; drama of Emmanuel Sanders; the atmosphere of Arrowhead; AFC West implications. It makes too much sense. 

It is always possible, but it would be a surprise if the Chiefs made a major trade or roster cut before the draft. Trading is hard in the NFL as it is, and with the quality of this year’s draft class it becomes even harder. Cutting someone would mean there is a significant player the Chiefs could add that would take up a lot of salary cap space. Unless the Philadelphia Eagles are going to cut DeSean Jackson, I don’t see a player being cut before the draft.

Broncos go quarterback.

The only tight end worth discussing at 23 is Eric Ebron and he’ll be gone well before the Chiefs pick. And even if Ebron is there, it would be unlikely the Chiefs would take him anyway given their needs on the offensive line and defensive front seven. Wide receiver, cornerback, and safety would also likely rank about tight end on the list of positions the Chiefs could target in the first round.

Quarterback to Denver would make a lot of sense if the right guy falls. Denver’s free agent moves have been completely about winning now, which makes sense given the Manning window of opportunity is shrinking by the second. Using their draft picks for the future would help relieve some of the issues their free agent spending may have caused.

Still, there are rumors the Broncos are going to use their top picks on players who can help them now. Wide receiver is a possibility, so is cornerback. But it would be foolish for Denver to pass on a quarterback like Blake Bortles if he fell to them.

Unfortunately, Jason, I do not know the spending habits of AA readers. Frankly, I don’t want to know what AA readers spend their money on for fear of never being able to sleep at night ever again. However, should someone be aware of the business Jason is referring to then please help a fellow Chiefs fan out so he does not spend his hard-earned money on a crap product.

I’m assuming this was tweeted before Missouri beat Davidson in the first round of the NIT. Then again this tweet could also be referring to the less than 3,000 fans who showed up for the game in Columbia.

It is crazy how opposite the first two years of Missouri’s switch to the SEC have been compared to what we projected it would be before the move. There seemed to be a consensus the Tigers would struggle mightily in football for the first few years as they switched their roster from a Big 12 build to something that fits in the SEC and the basketball team would dominate the conference aside from Florida and Kentucky.

Two years later the football team has made an SEC championship game and the basketball team is in the NIT.

One has to assume Haith, who is going to get at least one more year at Missouri, is going to start feeling the pressure on his job here soon. The quick fix solution with transfers has left his program without the young up-and-coming players every program needs. Mike Anderson certainly didn’t do Missouri any favors for Haith with the condition he left the program in but Haith hasn’t helped the situation much. One would think the rebuild is coming soon for the Missouri basketball program.

Thomas Dimitrov appears to being doing his best to create the Atlanta Chiefs based on his moves early this offseason. And not the 11-5 version of the Chiefs but the 2-14 Chiefs.

Atlanta should still be fine with a Matt Ryan at quarterback and a healthy Julio Jones and Roddy White coming back but the amount of money they spending on Tyson Jackson and Jon Asamoah is quite disturbing. But you know the Atlanta is going to have a solid year because they’ll be healthier and Pioli will leverage it into a new general manager job somewhere next winter.

Oh NFL, never change.

No need to cut anybody if the Chiefs were to actually make a move for Jackson. The NFL salary cap is very fungible so there are ways the Chiefs could redo Jackson’s contract to make it fit for the 2014 season.

The issue, as I pointed out this morning, is the Chiefs probably do not have what the Eagles would be looking for in a trade. Philly is looking to clear up future cap space in 2015 and beyond, which is why trading Jackson is being discussed. So sending someone like Brandon Flowers to the Eagles would defeat the purpose of trading Jackson for Philly.

What they would want in return is draft picks. Not only do the Chiefs not have many of them, they also do not have many high round draft picks. Think about a team like San Francisco who can offer two second round picks or a first and a third for Jackson. Or maybe consider the Rams, who have two first round picks to play with. KC simply cannot compete with what other teams could offer.

The clear answer here is Cocoa Puffs. Cocoa Puffs actually taste like chocolate where as Fruity Pebbles taste like grain that’s genetically modified to taste like sugar balls. Neither is a healthy choice but at least Cocoa Puffs fakes it better.

I’m really anxious to see what kind of progress Bray has made since last August. The tools are certainly there for him to be a starting quarterback in the NFL but his knowledge of the game is a serious question mark. So serious, Kansas City didn’t even need to spend a draft pick to acquire him.  It’s a pretty large red flag if you have the kind of tools Bray has and not go drafted in a year where talent was lacking.

There are not many coaches around the NFL more qualified than Reid to bring out the best in a quarterback. If Bray cannot make it here then it is hard to see a scenario where he would make it somewhere else. This is a big summer for him.

Seems odd to receive a question about AA magazine, but, hey, this is the point of an “Ask Me Anything.” Coincidently, the greatest editor of AA mag was Patty Allen. She wasn’t there for long but she really changed the culture of AA.

VANCE WALKER JOKE OF THE WEEK