Christopher Hanewinckel-US PRESSWIRE

Brandon Carr is gone, and he isn’t coming back.

The CB the Chiefs drafted during the Herm Edwards era has left in free agency to get paid by the Dallas Cowboys. Carr was signed to a 5-year, $50.1 million deal.

Cortland Finnegan got $50 million. Looks like the Cowboys wanted to make Carr the highest paid CB of the offseason.

In comparison, the Chiefs re-signed Brandon Flowers to a six-year, $49.35 million contract.

As sad as I am to see him go, Carr deserves this. He earned a big payday. He has outplayed his contract his entire time with the Chiefs.

Tradeoffs (sigh).

I haven’t seen the 2011 charting stat numbers yet, but I can tell you that in 2010, Stanford Routt, when paired up with Nmandi Asomugha, was a top shelf pass defender. Football Outsiders, for example, ranked him with the 3rd highest success rate, with 66% of passes defended. Carr ranked 10th in that department with 61% of passes defended. In fact, both scored better than Brandon Flowers, for what it’s worth. Also worth noting is that Routt only gave up 5.7 yards per pass to Carr’s 7.1 yd/pass. Given all that, I don’t think it’s at all unreasonable to expect Routt’s production to parallel his 2010 situation playing alongside Flowers.

There are also rumors circulating in the media that Routt was somebody for whom Romeo Crennel actively lobbied. If true, I think that’s also pretty significant in terms of scheme fit. For a really well-written, compelling look into the player we’re getting in Stanford Routt, I recommend Doug Farrar’s (Yahoo! Sports) recent piece on him. Long story short, I personally feel this is a really good signing no matter how you slice it.

Now that Routt is inked, it seems that the popular assumption, or expectation if you will, is that all this means is that Pioli got himself a guy with skills very comparable to those of Carr for what we think could be 2 or 3 million less per year. Cynically put, Pioli avoided some unnecessary negotation stress by landing a comparable replacement for Carr who, oh by the way, just so happens to be cheaper to pay. Given that, one is then further tempted to think that the safe, conservative move now is to simply franchise Bowe and let Carr walk. CB dilemma solved, franchise tag dilemma solved, all good.

Well guess what? I’m going to go against the grain and offer an even better strategy. Scotty, I hope you’re reading this (I also hope that after reading this, you’ll finally start responding to those thousands of suggestion letters I’ve sent you dammit!).

Bowe, while inconsistent at times, has shown the potential to be a gamechanger. That’s worth something in the NFL. I think he can also be considered a foundational player for the Chiefs. Also worth something. Still, I believe that Bowe, rather than being tagged, ought to be locked up into a long-term deal before free agency hits. Unless you’re planning to shop him– in and of itself a risky strategy on many fronts– I see no reason not to just sign him to a comfortable, reasonable, market value contract.

So why no tag for Bowe you ask? Well, first off because if you really want him, and you’ve come up with a good backup plan for Carr, then there’s really no reason whatsoever for not focusing all of your attention and energy on getting a deal done to make Bowe’s long-term presence as a Chief into reality. Not just that, but doesn’t it also help to further underscore that whole PR pledgy thingy to develop and retain core players?

As promising and exciting and foundational as Bowe might seem, it is also important to recognize that he simply has not proven himself to be among of the 5 best receivers in the league which, in a certain sense, is what the franchise tag kind of suggests. Pro Football Focus ranks him as the 12th best WR going into 2012 and 19th best among their Dynasty Rankings. Similarly, Football Outsiders ranked Bowe 51st in DVOA and 31st in DYAR for 2011. Not exactly what you’d call eye-popping production.

We all know that Bowe every once in awhile makes for some fun highlight reel footage, but does he honestly merit franchise tag money? Especially when you’re most likely not going to find many teams willing to exchange a high value pick for him? I think you see my point. Bottom line, paying Bowe like he’s a top 5 WR really doesn’t sound all that Clark-like to me. Lest we forget, Bowe was a 1st round draft pick– just how likely is it that we can get that for him now? ROI people, ROI.

Moving on, if Pioli can sign Bowe to a long-term deal before free agency hits, he’ll still have a franchise tag at his disposal, right? Well, please tell me then what would be the folly in using that tag on Carr? In fact, franchising Carr seems to me like the best of all possible moves at this point and I’m going to offer some reasons as to why that is so.

It’s a proverbial seller’s market for top tier CBs and this year is no different. Justifiable or not, Carr is almost certain to command an elite CB level of monetary respect out on the open market. What’s more, it seems there could be some healthy competition for a CB of Carr’s caliber. I can think of at least a couple of teams out there that are desperately needing major secondary talent who, oh by the way, also happen to have some pretty interesting draft pick horsepower to make a lucrative deal happen for the Chiefs. For example, both the Patriots and the Bengals are in need of quality CB help and both are holding on to spare 1st round picks. Just imagine all of the tantalizing draft possibilities that would suddenly open up for the Chiefs if that were to happen?

Move up and get a franchise QB? Check.
Pick up a couple of first round offensive linemen? Check.
Control the draft by moving down? Check.

So you say, “well Double D, suppose nobody is willing to pony up a high draft pick for Carr? Aren’t you then stuck with an overpaid secondary that you’re underutilizing most of the time because, well, as everybody knows, you really only need 2 good corners? Very, very risky. Very expensive (i.e., unClark-like). Not good. Or as my AA colleague Big Matt might say ‘Mattie no likey.’”

Not good? How about not so fast?

Merlin and I were texting back and forth on this whole deal the other day and he brought to my attention a pretty interesting fact of which I was previously unaware. To wit, an NFL nickel plays about 50% of all snaps currently. That is a lot. On top of that, the more success you have at containing teams on 1st down, the more likely it is that you’ll see the nickel utilized on successive downs. In fact, I think with the right personnel, a pretty compelling argument can be made for having the nickel formation as your base D.

When I think of Flowers, Carr, and Routt being on the field all at the same time, I start thinking “two’s company, but hey, three’s a party!” Arenas might excel at wrapping up receivers pretty quickly after the catch but he’s not exactly setting the world on fire when it comes to preventing that catch from happening in the first place. Just sayin.

As many on the message boards here have already suggested, the Routt signing may indeed turn out to be a very forward thinking approach on the part of Crennel and Pioli. In fact, passing against a defensive backfield comprised primarily of Flowers, Carr and Routt would be close to impossible. In this increasingly pass-friendly league, I have to think that that level of secondary presence would basically relegate opposing offenses to beating you with their running game, and maybe tossing in a few dink and dunks for good measure (which painfully brings to mind a certain low-scoring, rather flaccid offense with which I happen to be pretty familiar).

The only practical alternative to going with the run would be to simultaneously risk a lot of coverage sacks. Unless your QB can progress through his reads quickly and also get rid of the ball in a hurry, you’re gonna be in a heap of trouble. If a team goes run, we’ll have DJ, Berry, and perhaps Belcher up in there to contain it. If a team opts to pass, their dealing with a DB set of Flowers, Routt, Carr, and Berry with maybe DJ in coverage while Hali & Houston, along with either an ILB, S, or CB, are all breathing fire in your backfield.

Next– just stay with me here– we grab a very gettable guy in the form of one Paul Soliai as our NT. Tell me, how can that cannot be considered a run stuffing, block eating, shutdown, ballhawking, nightmare defense?

So, armed on defense, we head into the draft to start filling holes on offense.

Final (crazy?) thought. While neither has any experience at the position (at least none of which I’m aware), both Carr and Routt possess prototypical size and speed to play Safety, Routt perhaps moreso because of his physicality. Might this signing, combined with the retention Carr, offer more options and much needed depth at that position as well? I know, stupid idea, probably makes more sense to just plug Sabby Piscatelli whenever the need arises, right? I’m sure we’ll be just fine should Eric Berry happen to miss any games.

That’s my Double Take.

Sound off Addicts!

The Chiefs’ offseason has now officially begun with the signing of CB Stanford Routt. There are mixed reviews on the signing. The main reason for this is that people are worried about the team re-signing Brandon Carr.

Let’s get this out of the way right off the bat. Brandon Carr is not coming back.

“Lyle, the Chiefs have plenty of money to sign Carr, too! If they don’t re-sign him, they’re just being cheap!”

Fine, you’re entitled to your opinion. Here’s what I know. The Chiefs signed Brandon Flowers to a contract that pays him an average of about $8.3 million per season to be their number one CB. Stanford Routt signed for about $6.5 million per season to be the team’s number two CB. What that tells me is that Brandon Carr isn’t taking number two CB money. If he was willing to sign for around $7 million per season, let’s say five years, $35 million, he would have. By all reports, Carr likes Kansas City. He’s great friends with Brandon Flowers, he’s got a great defensive coach in Romeo Crennel. He even chose to make KC his home in the offseason. So if he was willing to take less money than he’ll get on the open market, I think he would have already. The fact is, he didn’t.
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John Rieger-US PRESSWIRE

Starting today the Kansas City Chiefs and the rest of the NFL can tag any player they deem worthy as their “franchise player.”

There are two types of franchise tags.

The exclusive franchise tag, can be applied once per off season by each NFL team. The tag is placed on a player set to become an unrestricted free agent. In the past, if given the tag, the player would be given a one-year contract no less than the average of the top five salaries at the player’s position or 120 percent of the player’s previous year’s salary, whichever is greater. However, under the terms of the new CBA, the tag offer will be the average of the top paid player at the respective position over the last five seasons, which will lower the financial value of the tag as player salaries tend to inflate each season. There is a more complicated explanation of the formula that you can read at Pro Football Talk if you so desire. Under this scenario, the player can’t negotiate with other teams. They must either sign with the team that franchised them or sit out.

The non-exclusive franchise tag is a little more interesting. If a team designates a player with the non-exclusive franchise tag, they must offer the player a contract that will be an average of the top five salaries at the player’s position in the previous year or 120 percent. The interesting aspect here is that the player can still negotiate with other clubs. If the player receives an offer from another team, the team that franchised the player is allowed to match the offer. If the franchising team refuses to match the offer, the player can sign with his new team, however the new team must compensate the franchising team to the tune of two first round draft picks.

It is possible but unlikely the Chiefs will use the franchise tag on either Dwayne Bowe or Brandon Carr today. They have a two-week window in which to make their decision, which means they will likely continue to negotiate with their players.

So what would it cost to franchise Bowe or Carr? According to some numbers from NFL.com, a franchise tag on Dwayne Bowe would cost the Chiefs $9.6 million in 2012. Using the tag on Brandon Carr would cost $10.6 million. Tagging either player would put the Chiefs on the hook for the salaries listed above unless the team could work out a long term deal with the player sometime this offseason. You may remember the Chiefs tagged Tamba Hali last season before the lockout to protect him from becoming a free agent. Shortly after the lockout was lifted, the Chiefs and Hali came to a contract agreement thus freeing the team from having to pay Hali the big one-year salary.

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According to Brian Williamson of ESPN.com, the Chiefs have $62 million in cap space going into the 2012 season. Chiefs Nation has its fingers crossed that they will actually spend said money. If they do, this is where methinks it should go, in order of priority:

1.) Chiefs WR Dwayne Bowe and CB Brandon Carr.

I put these two together, partially to make a point. I think it is important to point out just how cool it is that the Chiefs have two top-10 free agents and the cash to re-sign them. Carr was a fifth-round pick and represents the type of talent this team needs to draft, reward and build around in the future. Not all fifth rounders are going to become quality starters, but it sends a powerful message throughout the organization that no matter how you make it to Arrowhead, if you work hard, develop and don’t get into locker room drama or off-the-field problems, you will be heavily rewarded.

Only one can get the tag, so all things being equal, it makes the most sense to franchise Bowe, because the franchise number for wideouts is $1.2 million cheaper than it is for cornerbacks this year. I’m also more enthusiastic about Carr long-term than Bowe. Bowe is fantastic at times, but he’s had enough issues to where there are more concerns about giving him a monster long-term deal. Carr has been a solid workman – no drama, no quitting, no mug shots. Giving Carr a long-term deal should be easy, whereas some other issues may be worked out with Bowe and the franchise tag gives them another year to do that.

All of that said, it may make more sense to front-load the contracts for these two guys. A four-year deal for each of these guys would probably average about $8 million per year each. But, because the Chiefs are sitting on a cap mother lode, they may as well dump a lot of that salary in bonuses this year – paying each of them, say, $15 million and leaving them with a base salary of $6 million or lower for the next three years. This gives the Chiefs a lot of extra flexibility moving forward.

Plan B:

I mean, I guess you go after Stanford Routt and Vincent Jackson if you for some reason can’t lock up Carr and Bowe. But, while Jackson has a bit more downfield speed than Bowe, I think the two of them are at best equal to Bowe and Carr overall. Routt got tons of penalties for Oakland last year, and Jackson has more attitude issues than Dwayne.

2.) New Orleans G Carl Nicks

Derick E. Hingle-US PRESSWIRE

Paddy pointed to Nicks two weeks before the Super Bowl, and he is still very right. He will be pricey, but very rarely do the best in the biz come available at their position while still young. Nicks is 26, and considered by many to be the best guard in the NFL. If we’re going to shell out this season, this is some conspicuous spending I can get behind. Although the Chiefs were decent in the interior of their O-line last year, their overall depth is dreadful. Snagging Nicks gives the Chiefs a solid rotation of Wiegmann/Hudson at center and Lilja/Asamoah at the other guard position.

Plan B:

Stanford guard David DeCastro is frequently mocked to the Chiefs in the 2012 draft. KC seems to be in the sweet spot for picking him up – 11/12 is typically a bit early to draft and interior lineman, but DeCastro is an atypical talent. Furthermore, as Ladner pointed out last week, guard is about the safest position you can pick at the top of the draft. Ravens G Ben Grubbs would also be a decent pickup, he’s 28, but has had a lot of injury problems.

3.) Texans C Chris Myers*

*If Wiegmann retires.

Troy Taormina-US PRESSWIRE

Just like Nicks, taking on Myers would add talent to the middle of the line, and would also deepen the Chiefs overall depth in the trenches. The Texans had the best O-line in the NFL, and it was anchored by Myers, who may have been the best center. In addition to being a force up the middle, Myers is a grizzled veteran at calling blocking assignments and keeping the Texans unit gelling. Hudson struggled somewhat in limited snaps at center, and I think I’d feel better about bringing in a serious starter at C if Wiegmann retires, considering how dependent the Chiefs are on the run game for offensive success. Myers is 31, so a two-year deal may be the kind of stopgap that will allow Hudson to transition well into the role. With both Myers and Nicks tearing up the middle, the Chiefs could have a historic running game.

Plan B:

I don’t think this is a huge area of need if Wiegmann sticks it out for another year. I still think the Chiefs should spend a mid-round pick on an interior lineman, just because that’s the kind of position you can never be overloaded in. Hudson would likely perform average or better if thrown into the fire this year.

4.) Dolphins NT Paul Soliai

Christopher Hanewinckel-US PRESSWIRE

Soliai is one of the few true NT’s in the NFL. While he doesn’t put up mean stats, he holds down the middle of the line like a trooper. Miami franchised him last year, and with good reason – they recognize that their 3-4 scheme depends on him. But, because the Dolphins would have to pay him more than $15 million to franchise him this year and Soliai appears determined to test the market, the Chiefs should be able to swoop down and snatch him. Last year, AA writers were pounding the table for Aubrayo Franklin, but he was picked up by the Saints and underwhelmed. I do not thing the same will be the case for Soliai. The Dolphins run a similar defense to the Chiefs and he would fit right in.

Plan B:

While older than Soliai, Simone Pouha, at 33, would be both a stopgap and an upgrade over Kelly Gregg. He’s had more than 50 tackles each of the last two years for the Jets at nose tackle, which is impressive.

5.) Patriots RB BenJarvus Green-Ellis

Greg M. Cooper-US PRESSWIRE

I touched on this last week, and I think this signing is both wise and likely. While he hasn’t shown himself to be effective as an every-down back – not that the Patriots run it much anyway – he could be a great 3^rd-down back for the Chiefs. Regardless of what the Chiefs do with the RB position in the draft, if they enter the season with Jamaal Charles, the Law Firm, and Jackie Battle, it’ll easily the best and most varied running-back situation they’ve had in at least five years. Light, medium and heavy.

Plan B: Ray Rice is going to get franchised and Marshawn Lynch inspires little excitement as a complimentary piece to Charles. This is an overall weak RB free agent class, which brings us to the draft …

Where this would put us:

If Pioli/Hunt were to take my advice for the first time in the history of time, we would be solid in both the defensive and offensive backfields and have possibly the best interior O-line in the NFL. We would also have the closest thing to a complete defensive line KC has had in a decade or more. The only real hole on the roster would be right tackle.

However, most importantly, making these moves would put the Chiefs in the best possible position to get value in the draft. There is a glut of quality options at right tackle in the first three rounds. It is likely that Jonathan Martin will fall to the Chiefs, an athletic guy that could play either tackle position. But, knowing that they will have the opportunity to pick other good values at their only real need position, the Chiefs could instead use that first pick as a luxury – snagging the best talent on the board.

With a potential trading frenzy over QBs above them and a draft-philosophy bias against running backs, Trent Richardson could very well fall to the Chiefs. Not a need, but can you imagine how well KC would be set up with a RB stable of Charles, Richardson and the Law Firm? The Chiefs could also take the opportunity to go after whatever top-rated QB falls out of the top 10. Regardless of what you think of Cassel, I definitely would feel better about the quality of the position moving forward if he were competing against Ryan Tannehill in the next training camp. But, frankly, the possibilities are endless and I think Pioli should be interested in getting the best talent available.

He drafted for need by picking Tyson Jackson in 2009. He learned his lesson by taking the best player on the board with Eric Berry in 2010. Hopefully, the Chiefs both keep that experience in mind and set themselves up to do it right this year.

Last week the Chiefs announced that they had re-signed back up tight end Jake O’Connell. When I heard this news my exact thoughts were “I’m not upset that they re-signed him, but he certainly wouldn’t make my list of Top 10 Free Agents that I’d like the Chiefs to re-sign.” Which then got me to thinking, who exactly would be on my list? Obviously, we all can agree that Dwayne Bowe and Brandon Carr are the top priority, but on a team that lacked quality depth last year, what other players should we be hoping the Chiefs bring back? I gave it some thought and came up with the following list.

Let’s get started:

10. Amon Gordon

Nov 21, 2011; Foxboro, MA, USA; Kansas City Chiefs defensive end Amon Gordon (99) lines up against the New England Patriots during the first quarter at Gillette Stadium. The Patriots defeated to Chiefs 34-3. Mandatory Credit: Stew Milne-US PRESSWIRE

Gordon was a pleasant surprise last year. He basically walked in off the street last year and locked down the backup nose tackle spot. He even managed to rack up a couple of sacks, which is something that KC’s other “big boys” haven’t been able to do. The down side is that his play kept Jerrell Powe off the field. Speculation is that Kelly Gregg won’t be back and Gordon would be cheap depth for whomever KC brings in to be the new starting NT.

The other two players I considered for this number 10 spot were Barry Richardson and Leonard Pope, both of whom were starters last season. Richardson would provide quality depth if he was brought back as the backup swing tackle, but ultimately I’m so afraid of the Chiefs trying to start him again that I decided to leave him off the list altogether. With Moeaki coming back from injury I’d like to see KC sign someone with more offensive upside then Pope for the number 2 TE spot.

Kansas City Chiefs GM Scott Pioli has done some media rounds recently, mostly on his team’s own website, to talk about the hiring of new head coach Romeo Crennel.

One of the big questions asked of Pioli, which he has no intention of answering in a forthright manner, is whether or not the Chiefs will retain some of their top free agents. The two players most folks probably want to know about are CB Brandon Carr and WR Dwayne Bowe.

Pioli still has plenty of time to work on retaining these players. They won’t become free agents until mid-March so the GM has about 60 days to get deals worked out.

Still, some of Pioli’s quotes this week lead me to believe that there could be trouble.

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Just a couple of weeks ago I wrote a piece called Todd Haley’s Chiefs Weren’t Built To Win In Today’s NFL. In this post I explained how the most important stats for winning games right now in the NFL are passing yards and scoring points. These happen to be the weakest areas for the 2011 Chiefs team. My thought at the time was that if KC wanted to have any chance of winning games going forward that their number one priority this offseason was getting a new QB that could help fix these problems.

Then Matt Barkley and Landry Jones decided to go back for their senior seasons. That leaves a shortage of possible starting QBs available compared to the number of teams on the market for one. As I see it, there are seven teams that may be looking for a QB this offseason: Indianapolis, Cleveland, Washington, Miami, Seattle, Kansas City, and possibly the Jets. As I see it, there are only five QBs out there to fill those openings: Peyton Manning, Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III, Matt Flynn, and Kyle Orton. So that means 2 of these 5 teams won’t get an immediate upgrade. It could be even worse if the Colts decide to keep both Manning and Luck next season. That means the value of these QBs, and therefore the cost to acquire them, will go up.

Luck isn’t going to be an option for KC. Peyton Manning has injury questions, is up there in age, and could cost a fortune in either draft picks in a trade or dollars in a contract. Matt Flynn is a HUGE question mark with limited NFL snaps whose price tag went up drastically with his huge game to end the season. Green Bay may even franchise him so that they can get some draft picks for him to boot. Robert Griffin III is as exciting of a prospect as you can find, but this QB shortage and all the hype around him could make the price to move up and get him pretty steep. Kyle Orton is by far the least exciting of the NFL starting caliber QBs out there, but most still think he is a slight upgrade over Matt Cassel.

So knowing what we know about Scott Pioli to this point, how many of those QB options do you think are realistic? I think Flynn is too big of risk for Pioli. If he were to gamble a big contract (and possibly draft picks) on another back-up QB that showed upside while still having his first one under contract and it blew up in his face, he would be ruined. I don’t see Pioli staking his reputation on Matt Flynn. That means if they want a major upgrade at QB, they will have to get in a bidding war for either Peyton Manning or RG3. It’s possible I guess, but it just doesn’t seem like Pioli’s style. I will be happy to be proved wrong, but I’ve already come to terms with the fact that next year’s QB will be either Matt Cassel or possibly Kyle Orton.

Neither of those options are going to lead to KC becoming a high-powered passing attack that scores 30 points per game. So does that mean that KC can’t be a big-time contender next season? No, I still think they can be, but they’re going to have to take a different path.

Right now the elite teams like Green Bay, New Orleans, and New England are winning with record-breaking passing attacks led by Hall of Fame caliber QBs that rack up huge points and cover for their “less then stellar” defenses. I think the Chiefs’ only hope for becoming a power in the NFL next season is taking the exact opposite approach. That’s how they beat Green Bay. They played great defense and controlled the clock. They even hung with New England for a half doing that with no Jamaal Charles and Tyler Palko at QB.

The NFL HAS evolved into a QB league. It’s 100 percent true and everybody knows it. Because of that, teams are now all trying to copy this design. Defenses are being put together to stop this kind of attack. Sometimes when all the other teams are building their teams to play one way if you are one of the few teams that is completely different, teams aren’t equipped to deal with it. I think that is part of the reason Tebow has been able to have some success. That is now the path I think that KC should take (not getting Tebow, but going against the “pass happy” approach).

I’ll lay out my step-by-step blueprint on how I think they should do it after the break.

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What a season.

After last year’s turn around from 4-12 to 10-6 division champ, it’s not what we all would have wanted. That having been said, what record would you have predicted for KC if someone told you that Jamaal Charles, Eric Berry, and Tony Moeaki would all be lost for the season by week two, Matt Cassel would miss the second half of the season, Tyler Palko would start four games, Todd Haley would be fired, and the Chiefs would be the second lowest scoring offense in the NFL? Before all of that happened, I would have put the window of Chiefs wins this season between 7-11. If you had told me all of those things would happen I would have guessed that they’d win about two games. Instead, the Chiefs won seven games and were an overtime loss to the Raiders away from winning the division.

Now, let me be very clear. I know this team is not a Super Bowl contender yet, even when everyone is healthy. The offense was HORRIBLE this season, flat out HORRIBLE. They scored the fewest points of any team in the AFC. The fact that Jacksonville, Cleveland, and the Manningless Colts all scored more points than the Chiefs tells you all that you need to know. It also tells you just how good the defense is becoming that the offense was that horrible and the Chiefs still won seven games. Those three teams that I mentioned above only averaged 3.67 wins/team. The Chiefs’ defensive stats may not look elite when you just look at the numbers (11th in yards allowed, 12th in points allowed). However, multiple games where the Chiefs offense couldn’t stay on the field wore this defense down at times. I think this defense has proved that if the offense can just move the ball enough to let them rest and score a few points, the defense will hold up their end of the bargain.

It’s easy for fans to get carried away at the end of a disappointing season. Many fans may be crying for the Chiefs to fire Scott Pioli, hire Bill Cowher, trade the entire next two drafts for Peyton Manning, Andrew Luck or RG3, and then sign every high dollar free agent on the market. That all sounds very exciting, but it’s about as realistic as me winning both the Power Ball and the Publishers Clearing House in the same year.

So what should the Chiefs do?

They should keep the band together. I’ll explain after the break.

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Brandon Carr and Dwayne Bowe could play their final game as members of the Kansas City Chiefs this Sunday in Denver.

Both Bowe and Carr are set to become free agents following the season.

GM Scott Pioli has been hard at work trying to lock up a number of KC’s big name free agents. He has already extended the contracts of RB Jamaal Charles, CB Brandon Flowers, MLB Derrick Johnson and OLB Tamba Hali. Charles, Johnson and Hali are all Pro Bowlers and Flowers plays at a near Pro Bowl level.

While the core of the Chiefs seems to be pretty well in order, losing Bowe and Carr would set the team back significantly.

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Carr is listed as questionable with an ankle injury, and Flowers has the same designation with a back aliment.

Breer also says that DE Glenn Dorsey, who is also questionable, will be a game time decision.

Should Dorsey not be able to go, Allen Bailey and Wallace Gilberry would likely step in to do the block eating.

As if the Kansas City Chiefs haven’t suffered enough bad injury news this season, they could have a couple of more injuries that could take their chances of beating the New England Patriots tonight from slim to impossible.

The Chiefs have both of their starting CB’s Brandon Carr (ankle) and Brandon Flowers (back) listed as questionable for tonight’s game.

Can we just pause for a moment to think about what will happen if the Chiefs have to face Tom Brady and the Patriots without Carr and Flowers?

According to the team’s depth chart, which we know means pretty much nothing, Travis Daniels is next in line after Flowers and Javier Arenas would step up for an injured Carr.

Rookie Jalil Brown would likely be the nickel corner should both Arenas and Daniels be needed to move outside.

We’ll get the inactives about 90 minutes before kickoff. For the sake of the national audience, let’s hope Carr and Flowers are able to go.

Tuesday is the mandatory NFL day off for players and while some guys take the day to kick back and relax, many use it as a time to give back.

Some Chiefs players, including Travis Daniels, Brandon Flowers and Brandon Carr visited with troops today at Whiteman Air Force Base.

Pretty cool picture. Good to know they are Chiefs fans!

Cool shot of Flowers after the jump.

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Any team that is starting out 0-3 in the NFL is not in their ideal situation. The situation gets even worse when you are the defending division champions like our beloved Kansas City Chiefs.

This is the position the Chiefs found themselves in going into week 4 against the Minnesota Vickoings.  After three weeks of disappointment, Kansas City saw the Chiefs defeat the underachieving Vikings for their first win of the season. The fans did not immediately jump back on the bandwagon, and I don’t expect them too, but it is safe to say some people began to feel cautiously optimistic again.

While it was great to get that first W of the year last week, in my mind week 5 is a must-win game. The Chiefs will go to Indianapolis and face a Colts team without all world quarterback Peyton Manning.

Read more after the jump to see why this is a must-win game and what the Chiefs need to do to enter the bye week with 2-3 record, and more importantly a two-game winning streak.

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No official word on anything but Carr is the last key player the Chiefs need to get to camp. This tweet could indicate that he has decided to sign his tender offer or that a long-term contract has been reached. Let’s hope for the latter but my guess is that it is the former.

Flowers and Carr are great together...but how long they will be together remains to be seen.

The Kansas City Chiefs proved in 2010 that they are a young team on the rise. While they may not yet be quite ready to contend for a Super Bowl, their worst to first turnaround last season put the rest of the NFL on notice that the Chiefs are a team full of young, emerging stars.

The catch?

Some of those young starts are coming to the end of their contracts.

One of the downsides to have a bunch of young, emerging stars is that sometimes the team is unable to afford to keep them all. While the Chiefs have a low enough payroll that they will probably have a pretty decent chance of retaining their current crop of stars, there is a possibility that they might have to let one go.

The Chiefs made strides toward locking up some of these players last season by signing star RB Jamaal Charles and LB Derrick Johnson to club friendly deals. With another one of their stars, Eric Berry, still locked up for years in his rookie contract, the attention turns to three of the team’s bigger names.

Brandon Flowers, Brandon Carr, Tamba Hali and Dwayne Bowe.

All of those players are going to need new deals in the very near future. Obviously Flowers, Carr and Hali are a huge part of KC’s improving defense and Bowe is pretty much the only legit receiver on the offensive roster.

Now I honestly don’t think the Chiefs can get by with only signing one of these four. I think for them to remain competitive, Hali must stat and at least one of either Flowers or Carr. While the team did just draft Jonathan Baldwin, he is unproven and the KC offense would be decimated if they lost Bowe. Realistically, the team will probably do everything they can to bring all of these players back and at least get three of them.

But what if they couldn’t? If you had to pick only one of the four to remain on the team, who would it be?

Flowers, Carr, Hali or Bow? Sound off.

FYI: In case you weren’t aware, Brandon Carr is awesome.

Resigning Tamba Hali is the no-brainer of the offseason. The guy is our only real playmaker in the front seven and the best player on this defense. I know it’s not Pioli’s style, but I hope the Chiefs shower him with cash, lock him up until his mid-thirties and watch him become a hall-of-famer in red. Then, when we think he’s starting to decline, we’ll trade him to the Raiders for a 1^st round pick a few years down the road so they can replace Richard Seymour. And they’ll still suck.

The other no-brain resign is Brandon Carr. This guy is a star that no one outside the AFC West seems to be talking about. And he can flat out play — a master at the crazy deflection. There were games where he actually looked like the best Brandon on the field (Albert is a distant third). I hope he also gets a payday from the Chiefs, he’s earned it.

Still there’s a guy up for free agency that I think could be surprisingly useful to the Chiefs this year, and one other free agent who won’t be too expensive (nor too crazy like my previous suggestions) and I’d frankly be surprised if he doesn’t end up here.

See my selections after the jump. (more…)

Source: Yarkbarker.com

The Kansas City Chiefs 2011 NFL schedule was released November 19th, and to no one was surprised the Chiefs are slated to face much stiffer completion in 2011.  This increase in competition will mean that the Chiefs players, particularly the starters, will have to come ready and prepared when the season starts.

I’ll give you my preliminary take on how I see it all shaking out after the jump.

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Suggested reading, further insights, intriguing stats, and maybe a popular assumption or two challenged beyond the jump.

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As much as I want to, I figured you guys probably didn’t want to listen to me rant about the CBA again this week.  And since the “7 holy days” agreement is reasonably promising, it seems fair to spare the billionaire tyrants my wrath for a day.

Like many of you, I’m starting to lick my chops in anticipation of the upcoming draft.  But I’m no Mel Kiper.  The way I handle the draft is to become extremely attached to a handful of players based on dubious logic and snap-judgements.  There are usually about ten guys I really want, and ten guys I really don’t, and we don’t pick any of them.  It’s a personal roller-coaster that I have a really good time with, but I’m under no illusions that I’m actually able to accurately judge between one prospect and the next.  I can get the obvious stuff right, thats about it.  For expert draft coverage, go to Merlin and Adam, or as I all them, Merl Kiper and Toren McShay (right?).

Draft season always makes me think of our past drafts.  I’m somewhat of a Chiefs draft historian.  I might not be able to predict who we pick, but I can sure as hell remember them.  Name a year, name a round, and I can tell you who we picked.  A fairly worthless skill, big picture.  It turns out people aren’t really interested in when Montique Sharpe and Willie Pile were drafted*.  It is only during draft season, when mentally compiling charts of our previous years’ picks and tendencies, that my memorization becomes at all usefull.

*7th round 2003. We had 2 seventh rounders that year. Cha-ching!

I thought this week I’d consult my mental database and see who checks in as our best picks of the last ten years.  Of course this is all subjective.  But the common perception is that the Chiefs have been terrible drafters for most of the last decade.  And thats true, pretty much.  I’ve been saying for years you could staff a Burger King with our defensive tackle busts (Downing would be manager).  But there have been some pretty great picks in there too.  Here are the ten I’ve deeemed best:

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One of the biggest influences on the NFL Draft is Free Agency.  In that free agency period a need in the draft can disappear with a single signing.   A weakness on a team can become a strength.  Some teams do hardly anything during that period while others throw money around like a monkey flings its poop.

My policy on Free Agency is to look for deals to be had while adding depth unless you are a playoff contender.  It joys me to say that the Kansas City Chiefs are playoff contenders.  That does not mean I think the Chiefs should start spending money left and right.  However, I am in favor of a bit of a splurge.

Of course all of this is moot unless the owners and the NFLPA can find common ground in time for there to be a free agency period.  I’ve written before how I believe Free Agency is important to the Chiefs in order for them to continue to be a playoff contender.  My opinion hasn’t changed.  To that end, here are a few players that I have my eye on as we (possibly) approach Free Agency.
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Brandon Carr is just one of many Chiefs players without contracts for 2011

The Kansas City Chiefs are in the midst of their offseason evaluation process and when they are finished, they will have some big decisions to make on which of their players they would like to re-sign.

The Kansas City Star currently lists 25 Chiefs without a contract heading into next season. There are some big names and so not so big names.

We’ll break down all 25 and decide who gets an invitation back, after the jump.

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I gotta think at least part of him knows how funny this pic is (source: sportsgrindent.com)

I rose from my post-game coma, and the Chiefs were in the playoffs.  Unless I’m ever woken up by a nude Katy Perry bringing me a Long John Silvers breakfast in bed, that will probably go down as the coolest wake up of my life. 

It feels like we all had a hand in this.  Like its something we’ve all been working towards for years.  And in a way, I guess we have.  We toil during the week so we can spend our Sundays as we will (watching football and worshipping vengeful deities).  And we’ve endured countless losses and endless ridicule on those Sundays in the hopes that one day wins would come.  Now they have, and its time to bask in it.   If anyone has earned that right, we have.

For me, said basking will take the form of having ink etched into my skin.  I made that promise, and I intend to keep it.  I wanted to go to Freaks on 39th, where my LOTR tat (Elvish writing is the ultimate aphrodisiac) was masterfully applied.  But they were closed, as was their Broadway counterpart.  My flight was at 5am this morning, so it appears my homage to the 2010 season will have to be done by a Brooklyn artist.  I’m not thrilled about that, particularly since my current city of residence will likely become enemy territory in about a week.  I’ll have to make sure whoever does it isn’t a Jets fan.  And if they are, I go to the restroom and pee on their toilet paper.  Guerrilla warfare baby!

Further ruminations from your boy Big Matt after the jump:

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Source: Yardbarker.com

The Kansas City Chiefs got a huge AFC West victory Sunday in an ugly 10-6 win over the Denver Broncos.

The game sure wasn’t pretty but while the Chiefs committed numerous mental errors, they produced pretty well yardage-wise in all three phases of the game.

Let’s give out our game balls to the players on offense, defense and special teams who had the best games.

Offense:

Matt Cassel

This one was tough because Jamaal Charles had his usual outstanding game with 116 rushing yards on 21 carries but Cassel’s efficiency was the reason the Chiefs won this game.

What was especially impressive Cassel’s performance is that he managed to have a pretty decent day even though Champ Bailey totally took Dwayne Bowe out of the equation.

Cassel’s most impressive play was his TD pass to Leonard Pope. Cassel rolled out on what looked like a busted screen play, stayed cool, threw a beautiful pump fake which froze Pope’s defender for just a moment allowing for the TD pass.

It was a big time play by Cassel who appears to be becoming a big time player.

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Source: Yardbarker.com

The Kansas City Chiefs defense was not about to be embarrassed again by the the Denver Broncos.

On November 14th the Chiefs went to Denver and got stomped by the Broncos offense. Denver jumped all over the Chiefs secondary, airing it out an establishing a lead that Kansas City would not be able to overcome.

It was a different story on Sunday. The Chiefs secondary smother Denver’s receivers, allowing QB Kyle Orton to complete only 9 of 28 passes for 117 yards.

Leading the way for the Chiefs was CB Brandon Carr. Carr, often been criticized for his inconsistent play, was sensational. He recorded no tackles but that was because he was too busy breaking up passes. Carr broke up a staggering 5 passes throughout the afternoon, nearly coming up with a number of interceptions. His coverage was airtight all day long and that, compared with the usual fantastic play of Brandon Flowers, put a cork in the Denver passing attack.

Let me put in to perspective how good the Chiefs defenders were today. Denver’s number one and number two receivers, Brandon Lloyd and Jabaar Gafney combined for 4 catches for 59 yards but were targeted 16 times!

The Chiefs took a bit of a hit in the running game because of their commitment to stopping the pass but what matters is the scoreboard and the Chiefs held the Broncs to only 6 points.

If Brandon Carr can manage to play at this level next week in San Diego, the Chiefs will have a very good chance to win their 4th game in a row.

How well are the Chiefs conrners playin? We've got the answers. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

Last week we got some stats on Kansas City Chiefs CB Brandon Flowers that showed just how remarkable of a season he is having. While I was impressed with Flowers’ stats I wondered how well the Chiefs other CB’s, Brandon Carr and Javier Arenas were performing.

Too often today people throw around stats and make judgments without really understanding the entire story. We’ve even done that here at AA. However, thanks to the good folks at Pro Football Focus, we are about to kick our statistical accuracy up a notch.

Pro Football Focus is the absolute best resource in the business for accurate NFL stats.

How accurate?

Pro Football Focus breaks down every single snap for every single player of every single game. They grade each and every play for each player and have received national recognition for the accuracy of their information. Their site is not free and really, given all the work they do, it shouldn’t be. The price is worth it if you want the most in depth and accurate view of how an NFL player or team is performing. I highly recommend them.

Here at Arrowhead Addict, we do have a subscription to PFF and we will now be bringing you the best statistical view of your Kansas City Chiefs.

After five weeks, I wanted to take a look at how well the Chiefs young corners are performing. After the jump, get the real numbers on Brandon Flowers, Javier Arenas and Brandon Carr.

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Carr made his weight. Lets hope everyone else did as well. (Photo Source: Yardbarker.com)

Thanks to the miracle that is Twitter, we now know that the Chiefs have recently completed their weigh in and they are now off to perform their conditioning test.

From Brandon Carr’s Twitter:

BCarr39

Made weight with 3lbs. to spare. Now it’s time for the track meet!!!

I am making an educated guess here that “track meet” means the conditioning test unless Todd Haley decided to change the team over to a track and field squad. If he did, I think Glenn Dorsey may be in danger of getting cut.

We’ll be keeping an eye on Carr’s Twitter account. As soon as I post this, I am going to shamelessly beg him to tweet if everyone passes the test.

Note: In an earlier Tweet, Carr said he weighed in at 205. That means he was ordered to be at 208 or below.

Brandon Carr is burning the midnight oil to get ready for Chiefs camp. (Photo by Brandon Carr)

Every morning when I check in to the office I pull up AA and Twitter so I can keep up with the days KC Chiefs news and keep you all informed. I follow a number of Kansas City and national sports sources on Twitter so that I never miss a step. I also follow a number of the Chiefs players.

I saw something this morning that made me pretty happy. The following is a tweet from Chiefs CB Brandon Car:

BCarr39

Too busy to work out during the day but it had to get done. 2 more days!!!!!!!!!

This tells us 2 things.

1. Carr is excited for training camp. This is a good thing because for the most part, players hate training camp. It isn’t fun for them. It is nice to see Carr excited about playing football.

2. Carr is putting in the work. His tweet came roughly 7 hour ago when I saw it at 8:30 AM (EST). That means if Carr is in KC, he was out running somewhere between midnight and one in the morning. Heck, even if he is in California he was out after 10:00 PM.

It would have been easy for Carr to just call it a night and workout the next day. Hopefully his work and dedication will pay off this season. Carr is entering his 3rd year which is usually a prime time for young players to make a significant leap forward. Here’s hoping.

When the Chiefs nabbed Brandon Flowers in the 2nd round with the 35th pick of the 2008 NFL draft many experts considered him a steal that low.

Much later in the draft, Herman Edwards and Carl Peterson chose lesser known Brandon Carr, a division II player out of Grand Valley state in the 5th round with the 140th pick. Carr was thought to be talented but a bit of an unknown quantity, being that he did not play at a division I school. It was believed he would be a bit of a project and he began the year as a backup.

The fans may not have realized it at the time, but it was the start of something special.

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Will the Brandons get the job done as rookie starting CBs?

I am concerned about Dorsey, though. Check out what Double D wrote about Swamp Thing in the comments:

Well, if true, that’s great news about Albert but as I mentioned in another post we probably shouldn’t hold our breaths when it comes having Glenn Dorsey signed and in camp anytime soon. Joel Segal, (whose clientele includes no less than 2 holdouts last year – i.e., J. Russell & Levi Brown) is apparently choosing to “hold off” on talks with the Chiefs until he sees how much the other top 10 draft picks get. As somebody with a lot of years’ contract negotiation experience under my belt, I find that logic not only unappealing but completely unpersuasive. It feels like a stall tactic and in my opinion does not portend well. From where I sit, “hold off” sounds a little too much like “hold out.”

Long-time reader Jason had a similar report after listening to 610:

Also said that they offered a contract to GD in June and on Monday were told that numbers 6, 7 and 8 ALL HAVE to sign before ANY negotiations would take place (from Carl, of course taken with a grain of salt).

Add Joel Segal‘s tactics to King Carl‘s history and the fact that we had a first-round pick from LSU hold out for 10 days last year, and, yeah, it ain’t looking too good.

I think the key signing actually could be DT Sedrick Ellis. The Saints have been throwing some money around lately, and are serious about winning this year, so I expect him to sign soon. With Chris Long and Ellis signed, Dorsey’s value will pretty much be set. The Jets inking Vernon Gholsten wouldn’t hurt either. Then again, those two could be waiting on Dorsey to see if he’ll get a bigger deal than the fifth pick typically does, giving them a bargaining chip in the process. This could take a while.

Let’s hear it Addicts: how long will it take for Dorsey and Peterson to reach an agreement and get the Bayou Bruiser into camp?