Michael Hickey-US PRESSWIRE

If his 2011 season is any indication,  Kansas City Chiefs could have a monster on their hands in Jon Asamoah.

As we go deeper into the absolute worst part of the offseason (June and the first three weeks of July are as bad as it gets) we will start taking a look at individual players on the Chiefs roster to evaluate their performance in 2011. We use the grades and stats recorded by our good friends at Pro Football Focus because we feel they give us the most accurate depiction on how a player is really performing on a snap by snap basis.

We’re starting with Asamoah. At first glance, his PFF numbers from last season weren’t that impressive. He recorded an +3.2 overall grade which is just above average. A close inspection of his work, however, paints a very interesting picture.

For starters, Asamoah almost never left the field. He played all but two of the team’s offensive snaps on the season at RG. His strength was clearly his pass protection. Despite having a rotation of mediocre and bad QB’s playing behind him, Asamoah blocked well for all of them. In fact, he got better as the year went on.

The second year player out of Illinois gave up two sacks and two QB hits on the season. He also gave up eight hurries but all eight of those hurries came in weeks one through nine. Asamoah did not give up a single hurry the rest of the season.

To put it another way, Asamoah hasn’t given up a QB hurry in 548 snaps.

On the season, Big Jon finished with a stellar +13.0 pass blocking grade. Only once on the season did he receive a negative grade in that area (-0.9 vs. MIA).

Where Asamoah struggled was in his run blocking. As good as he was protecting crappy QB’s, he was almost equally as bad blocking for crappy running backs. He received a -12.3 run blocking grade on the season, his worst game coming in the last contest of the season with a -3.2 mark against the Broncos. To be fair, that was just one week after his best run blocking game of the season against Oakland (+2.3).

Obviously Asamoah has to improve his run blocking, especially if the Chiefs plan to ram Jamaal Charles and Peyton Hillis down defense’s throats this fall. Still, it is important to remember that 2011 was Asamoah’s very first as a starter. The fact that he still graded above average and excelled in some areas is a great sign considering the total disaster that was the 2011 Chiefs offense.

In 2012, with more offensive weapons, stability at the QB position and a year over one-thousand snaps under his belt, Asamoah should take another step forward.

I predict a breakout season for Asamoah this season. Should the Chiefs run wild with Charles and Hillis, Big Jon might even get some Pro Bowl buzz.

What do you think Addicts? Is Jon Asamoah primed for a big year in 2012?

Chiefs fans, myself included, are always itching to see each year’s new defense.  Under Vermeil we knew the offense would be good, under Herm bad.  Not a lot of fluctuation there.  The defense was bad throughout the decade, but every year we convinced ourselves they’d be better.  We listed our reasons why.  Even a modest improvement, such as Jared Allen brought, drove us wild.  It was fun.  The yearning for the 90s is palpable in Chiefs Nation.  More than anything, we want our defense back.

Still, any time you take the #1 rushing offense in the league (“I’ll take a thunder and lightning, hold the thunder”) and add significant receiving talent, a fan base will lick its chops.  This is the first time in five years I can remember going into a season with legitimate expectations for our offense.  It’s all in place, right?  Charles is still here, Cassel is coming into his own, Terry Copper got inked to a new deal, our receivers should be A LOT better, and we even have a new fullback.  AA’s own Double D has been quoted as saying we’re one Thom Jones firing away from being unstoppable.  With all of this coming together at the same time, what could go wrong?

the obvious answer after le jump:

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There seems to be a lot of chatter in these here parts about what all is wrong (and right) with the Kansas City Chiefs offensive line and how to make it better. We’ve all heard ‘em, they generally go something like this:

Branden Albert will never win us a Superbowl at LT; he should be moved to . . .

We need a major upgrade at RT, Barry Richardson shoved a coach.

Even at 74 years old, 110 lb Casey Weigmann continues to play phenomenally well. He anchors our OL dammit!

Don’t dare touch Ryan Lilja, he’s from here and more importantly, he went to K-State!

Brian Waters play has slipped, he’s just getting by on reputation.

Okay, perhaps I exagerated a tad on the matters of Casey Weigmann’s diminutive stature and charter membership to AARP, but are all or any of these statements really valid? I’ll do a little review on all this right after the jump.
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Earlier today Merlin took a look at the nose tackle class in this year’s NFL Draft.  I have no idea who from his list will be drafted, but I do know that it is up to the center to nullify the nose tackle.  In fact, one of the keys to a fully functioning 3-4 defense is the idea that the nose tackle occupies at least 2 offensive linemen.  This means, that if the center can take on the nose tackle 1-on-1, then the 3-4 defense loses some of its effectiveness.  Kansas City Chiefs fans should be familiar with this since our NT can’t consistently force a double team.

Along with the NT class, the center class should also be of interest to the Chiefs since their current center, Casey Wiegmann, is currently 50-50 on retiring.  Even if he wasn’t retiring center should still be a priority for the Chiefs because while Wiegmann was serviceable, he was showing his age last season.  Also, as a smaller center (6’2” 285 lbs.) he was not holding up well versus the nose tackles he faced.  That being said, he was an upgrade from previous year’s center Rudy Niswanger.  Now that we’ve established the idea that the Chiefs need a center, here are some likely candidates to be drafted:
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Now that the 2010 NFL Season has concluded, it is time to focus on the offseason.  Unfortunately, this offseason will be marred by concern over NFL Labor negotiations.  However, since I can’t go up to each negotiator, slap their face, and tell them to get the deal done; I’ll have to find something else to keep myself busy.  Since the draft is a sure thing with or without a new CBA, I figured I would focus on that.

Before reading this I need you to understand three things.  The first is that I am doing this based on the idea of no free agency.  Second, I am pretending that I’m sitting in the General Manager’s seat.  I am not pretending that I am Scott Pioli.  However, it should be known that he and I share our like for smart, high character guys.  Third is that these choices will change many times before the actual draft occurs.  One of the biggest events leading up to the Draft, the NFL Combine, has not yet occurred and so these players will move up and down the board depending on their performance there.  With that being said, here is my Chiefs’ mock draft.
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Source: Yardbarker.com

The Chiefs have released a bulk press release to announce the signings of Javier Arenas,  Dexter McCluster and TE Leroy Banks.

No details on the contracts have been released though National Football Post is reporting that the Arenas deal is for 4 years.

Banks was released earlier in the offseason with Kolby Smith and Matt Gutierrez. Banks was drawing some pretty good reviews for his pass catching ability in OTA’s and his release came as a bit of a surprise. Since Berry and possibly Asamoah will be late to camp, the Chiefs probably inked Banks because they have some extra room.

Speaking of Jon Asamoah, he was reported to be close to getting a deal done, yet there still hasn’t been any official word.

Along with Asamoah, we are waiting on Eric Berry who isn’t likely to be signed any time soon. His agent is likely waiting for #1 Sam Bradford to get a deal done so the draft’s top 5 picks have a ceiling.

Stay tuned.

Source: Yardbarker.com

You may remember in the past we’ve talked with Bob Gretz and we link to his site, BobGretz.com, daily in our Morning Fix feature. Bob has been covering the Chiefs for years and his site (alone with AA) should be visited at least once daily when one is looking for Chiefs news.

Well, Bob is doing an “Ask Bob” feature right now and AA staff member Jeremy of  “My Chief Concern” had a very interesting question answered by Mr. Gretz. I think you will find Bob’s answer very interesting.

Jeremy at arrowheadaddict said: Who is you best guess at center and right tackle and where does Jon Asamoah fit in?

Bob says: I think the starters at center and right tackle will be very familiar – Rudy Niswanger and Ryan O’Callaghan. I don’t see anyone that’s going to challenge either one of those players right now. Casey Wiegmann will give Niswanger a run for his money, but I don’t think the starting position will change hands. I don’t see anybody challenging O’Callaghan. Asamoah fits at guard or center, and in the starting lineup no later than 2011.

What do you think, Addicts? Does Gretz have it right? Will Rudy Niswanger get another season as the starting C or will Weigmann overtake him? Will O’Callaghan hold down the RT spot? When and were will Asamoah end up starting?

Sound Off!

Source: Yardbarker.com

Monday is here and it is time for me to officially weigh in on the Chiefs draft. There have been mixed reviews among Chiefs fans on just how well the front office did last weekend. Overwhelmingly, the fans I have talked to seem to be thrilled with Berry, pretty happy with McCluster and Asamoah and totally baffled at the lack of action in the nose tackle and linebacker department.

I understand the feeling. I too was shocked as the Chiefs passed over Terrence Cody and
later, Cam Thomas during the draft. We have talked at length here on AA about the Chiefs needs at NT. While we didn’t all always agree on where NT should go on the priority list, we all did agree that it was a priority.

I have been sleeping on it and I still don’t have an answer as to why the Chiefs skipped the nose tackle position all together. I just don’t know. I do know, however, that Scott Pioli and Romeo Crennel are not stupid men. They know the importance of the position. They have broken down the tape of last year’s defense and they know more about what went wrong than we do. So while I would like to be raking Pioli and Co. over the coals right now like many around the blogosphere, I am going to give the benefit of the doubt right now. The offeason is still young and I anticipate KC will still make a move at the position.

Shortly after the weekends festivities, we took a reader approval poll and the most of our readers gave the Chiefs a solid B on their draft. Out of over 700 votes and counting, here is the breakdown:

B-370 votes or 49%
A-199 votes or 29%
C-148 votes or 20%
D-32 votes or 4%
F-6 votes or 1%

So 69% of Addicts gave the Chiefs either an A or a B and only 5% gave them a failing grade.

Well, after giving it much though, my grades are in and so is my reasoning…after the jump!

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