John Dorsey: “It Is Not Your Dad’s NFL Anymore”
By Ben Nielsen
John Dorsey has taken a little bit of heat for how he has approached the NFL Draft the last two years. Several of his picks were either not popular at the time or did not fill a specific need. For instance, many were not pleased with the selection of Dee Ford in the first round of this year’s draft, feeling the Chiefs should have either traded down or taken a wide receiver. Instead, Dorsey neither traded down or added a pure wide receiver.
What Dorsey has said since training camp last August was the Chiefs needed to get faster. This was evident in the second half of last season when the secondary had issues covering crossing routes and when Kansas City’s wide receivers had issues creating separation. Dorsey says he’s still targeting speed.
Via Greg Bedard of Sports Illustrated’s MMQB:
"“I think we’re getting faster,” Dorsey said. “We’ll continue looking for that. It’s not your dad’s NFL anymore. The field is stretched out so far, everybody runs and is so athletic in today’s game… I don’t think you can have enough of those guys in either Andy’s offense or Bob’s defense.”"
Since last August the Chiefs have added guys like Marcus Cooper, De’Anthony Thomas, Phillip Gaines, and Ford – all players with excellent speed for their positions. This extends into what the Chiefs did in Dorsey’s first draft when he selected Knile Davis (4.37), Travis Kelce (4.61), and Sanders Commings (4.41). Free agent additions Chris Owens and Weston Dressler each run in 4.4s. And potential third string running back Joe McKnight ran a 4.40 at the NFL Combine coming out of USC.
Speed, speed, speed.
Much has been made about how big Seattle’s defense is in the secondary. What is not discussed enough is how quickly they get to the ball. Not only does Seattle have size to run down field but they get to the ball very quickly once the ball is caught. One of Denver’s biggest issues in the Super Bowl was they could not get the run-after-catch yards they were getting in all season.
Between the additions of Owens, Gaines, and Ford, plus the inclusion of a healthy Commings, the Chiefs are adding a lot of speed to their defense. This is, in a lot of ways, not your Dad’s Chiefs anymore.