The Chiefs Aren’t Chumps
There is a lot of angry flowing around Chiefs Nation right now. We have had a fantastic influx of new readers here at AA and there seems to be a general theme among some of them. The opinion seems to be that the Chiefs are cheap skates and that they aren’t really interested in improving the team. There is general anger and outrage at the failed acquisition of Anquan Boldin and the lack of FA activity at Arrowhead over the weekend.
I have purposely not written about the subject because I myself needed to calm down a little bit an put things in perspective. Now that I feel I have some perspective, I am going to share it with you.
The Chiefs aren’t cheap. They aren’t giving up on the season and they are trying to improve the team.
If Clark Hunt was concerned about money he would not have brought in Scott Pioli, the best and most expensive GM candidate on the market at the time. He would not have allowed Scott Pioli to fire Herm Edwards, who still had time on his contract. If Clark didn’t care about winning, he would not have paid Todd Haley and Herm Edwards last season.
The Chiefs are reportedly aggressively trying to resign Chris Chambers. He likely won’t come cheap. They are bringing in both Thomas Jones and Justin Fargas in an attempt to upgrade at RB and provide depth along side Jamaal Charles. This shows a desire to fix their offensive woes from last season.
Now on Boldin. The Chiefs did what we all wanted and tried to trade for Boldin. Per reports from around the league, the Cardinals were originally asking for a 2nd rounder for Boldin. No team in the league was going to go for it. The Cards then dropped the asking price to a 3rd rounder. The Chiefs have one of the highest 3rd round picks in the league. I have from a source that their 3rd rounder is exactly what the Chiefs offered for Anquan.
The Ravens got Boldin because they were simply willing to offer more picks than the Chiefs. Giving up 2 picks in the draft for 1 player nearing his 30th birthday was something a teams like the Ravens could afford to do. The Chiefs could not.
We all agree that the Chiefs have a lot of holes to fill. How are they supposed to fill those holes when they are giving up multiple draft picks for one guy? The answer is they can’t. The Chiefs need their 4th round pick to try to add depth to this team and giving it up for Boldin, who may only have 4 good years left, would have been foolhardy.
The Chiefs will make a move at WR. I promise you. If you think Todd Haley is going to roll with the same group he had last your then you haven’t been paying attention. I don’t know how they are going to do it. It might be a free agent, it might be via trade or it might come via the draft but I promise you, the Chiefs will have another WR on the roster next season not named Bowe or Chambers.
The only way the Chiefs were going to get Boldin without giving up multiple picks would have been to offer a 2nd rounder. I do not think giving up the extra 2nd round pick the Chiefs acquired in the Tony Gonzalez trade, the 51st pick in the draft, for Anquan Boldin, would have been a smart move. The Chiefs will be able to use that pick to acquire a player that can help them for a much longer period of time than Boldin. DeSean Jackson, for instance, was taken by the Eagles with the 49th pick in the draft. If the Chiefs do their homework, they can find the right guys in the draft.
The Chiefs are actively trying to improve but they aren’t chumps. They didn’t go out and throw outrageously large contracts at free agents at the stroke of midnight. They allowed the market to settle down and they went about their plan.
The Chiefs are going to make moves. I can almost guarantee there will be significant roster turnover this offseason. Free agency is only 3 days old and the draft is still over a month away. There are plenty of moves and transactions to come. Take a deep breath, sit back and watch the plan unfold. If the plan fails, then we can criticize but 3 days is a very small sample size on which to draw the conclusion that the Chiefs don’t care about improving and aren’t willing to spend money to do so.
Clark Hunt has assembled one of the best personnel and coaching staffs in the entire league. Let’s give them more than 3 days to execute their plan for the future.