Here is a piece from our loyal reader and commenter Merlinnj:
It was an honor to have Zach and Adam allow me some time to vent a bit online. When you are coming off a tough season, like we just had, it is easy to get frustrated with the lack of action this offseason. Anyway, I thought it would be fun to lay some things out and see what reaction it provokes. Before I get into my game plan, I should lay out some of my philosophy first.
1] Football is a complex team game. Cohesion is so vital and can take years to develop. Of course, there are always exceptions, but generally that is the way it works. Players are not easily interchangeable. Just because a player did well at a certain position does not mean he will do well at the same position in a different system. Dino Hackett is one of my favorite examples of that. He was a nice MLB, but when Marty arrived and reduced his ability to freelance, his effectiveness went downhill.
2] Managing money is so important in today’s NFL. Getting stuck with large contracts for players either gone (dead money) or not earning their pay kills today. Look at what happened to the Niners. Once those large contracts caught up with them, they had to purge their roster. They still haven’t recovered.
3] Overpaying for a player can work in limited situations. The prime example would be paying for that player who you think will take you over the top and win a Super Bowl. That does work. However, it is hard to do and we are not that close to a Super Bowl to consider it.
4] The talent level is close in the NFL. The difference between 6-10 and 10-6 is very small. As bad as you are (with some exceptions, not us) you are not that far away from playoff contention.
5] Short term fixes tend to hurt teams in the long run. The last thing we need is a coach or GM who mortgages the farm to win today. It usually does not work.
Now, with that in mind, this how I look at the offseason and draft for the Chiefs.
1] Coaching staff. I am glad we got an experienced OC. I like Herm Edwards, but I think he needed to turn over the offense to someone experienced. I do not like Dick Curl still wearing red and I am surprised the special teams coach is still here.
2] Current state of the Chiefs. Let’s be realistic. I liked Dick Vermeil, but young player development was not his strong suit. We are paying today for the generally poor drafts under him. How many D-line picks did we make under him? Who worked out aside from Jared Allen? Herm got a roster with some good “O” skill talent, a wonderful O-line most of whom were on the back end of their careers. A bad “D” with just a couple of young players with talent. Herm tried to keep it together and build the “D,” but the wheels fell off last year and we ended up in quite a ditch.
3] The plan. How do you turn this around, hopefully before Tony G is at home waiting for his Canton invite and LJ has a ton of miles on him? Well, you can take the short-term approach. You could sign some big name free agents, hope to hit on some draft picks and we can get together in 3-4 years and have this same conversation. Or, you could try to build a sustainable team and try to be a team in the hunt most years. Well, I think Herm and Carl Peterson are taking the second road and I am happy for it. First, you have to purge your roster of some overpaid vets well past their prime while keeping a few vets around for leadership. By and large, we have done that. I would have liked to have seen Eddie Kennison stay, but I do not get the medical reports. I still see needs for a vet WR, vet O-lineman and vet FB. I would have loved for us to have added T-Rich for that last one.
There are only a couple of ways to improve a team. You either bring in new players or get improvement out of the existing players. It is the second one that is the hardest for us fans to judge. I do not attend the practices and meetings. Even if I did, I do not have the skill to evaluate developing NFL players. Bringing in new players is great, but you have to either sign someone else’s player (tends to be expensive) or draft very well. OK, where do we need to focus our attention?
Resign JA. The money for top drawer talent keeps going up. I know CP likes his hardass rep, but I think it was a mistake not to sign him quickly for big bucks after the season. I was fine with having JA show he grew up and could handle himself as a responsible adult. Now, he needs to get paid, with some protection for the Chiefs if he decides to go back to his party days.
Improve the O-line. Even Mr. Magoo can see our line does not work. Herm has purged, and brought in some waiver claims, but we need much much more. There will probably be 3 new starters on the line and that is not taking into account we also need a blocking TE and a blocking FB. That is a lot of new players to bring together. The wildcards in this are the existing young players. Can Herb Taylor or Randy Niswanger start and play well for us? I do not know the answers and those decisions have a major impact.
Get a new starting CB. Gunn likes Tyron Brackenridge, so this may be for a nickel back, but either way, we need to bring in a good talent to play CB. Benny Sapp seems to be in Herm’s “tolerance box” so I do not know if we can expect him to be offered a contract.
The D-line is another area of interest. What can we expect from the Turk and Tank show? I do not know what Gun is thinking there. We may have a shot at Sedrick Ellis or Glenn Dorsey in the draft. Selecting either one will give us a clue.
In special teams, we really need a pretty complete overhaul there with a new kicker and someone or two to handle the return duties.
Well, this is enough for now. Later, I will flesh out my draft approach. Thanks again AA guys!
– Merlinnj