Chiefs have deepest roster in years

The smoke has cleared and the dust has settled. The Kansas City Chiefs have named their 53-man roster, and although minor tweaks are sure to come, we now have a very finite idea of who will make up the 2015 edition. Kansas City has been picked by some to win the West for the first time since 2010 and perhaps even go to the Super Bowl, something that appears a realistic goal.

General manager John Dorsey took over a team that was barren in many areas after the disastrous 2012 team. Sometimes, it is easy to look back and say that group had Justin Houston, Derrick Johnson, Brandon Flowers, Tamba Hali, Dontari Poe and Jamaal Charles. The following statement is usually “they should have been much better and Dorsey walked into a plum situation.”

That statement is laced in foolishness.

While the 2012 team should not have won only two games, it was not anything close to a playoff team. There was no quarterback, no depth and many holes in the starting 22. Dorsey came in and immediately rectified the quarterback problem, trading a pair of second-round picks to the San Francisco 49ers for Alex Smith. Those picks became Justin Hunter and Cody Latimer. Pretty sure I’ll take Smith.

Following the 2012 campaign, the roster included Matt Cassel, Tony Moeaki, Jamar Newsome, Terrance Copper, Steve Breaston, Jonathan Baldwin, Abram Elam, Javier Arenas, Jalil Brown, Cory Greenwood, Andy Studebaker, Travis Daniels, Brandon Siler, Anthony Toribio and Ricky Stanzi. None of those players would sniff the roster today.

Dorsey has been able to add talent almost everywhere across the depth chart. The Chiefs have All-Pros dotting the landscape and were busy cutting players on Saturday who will be fought over for active rosters. Dorsey has made his mistakes (Dunta Robinson says hello) but they are heavily outweighed by his successes.