My Chief Concerns: Making Room For DE Allen Bailey
By author
(First, let me get this out of the way: If you are anything like me you don’t even care about the lockout anymore. The last couple of months I try to ignore it. I act like it is not even going on. Why? Because I know it is just a sham. There will be football this year because the same greed that is causing the players and owners to fight over money will compel them to play when the time comes so that they do not lose any money. It is simple math. It is impossible for you to disagree. I dare you. 🙂 )
In any event…
I was perplexed when the Kansas City Chiefs took Miami DE Allen Bailey in the third round of the 2011 draft. Don’t we already have depth at DE? We have a stud in Glen Dorsey, a serviceable (and expensive) DE in Tyson Jackson, a stud in Shaun Smith, and a developing stud in Wallace Gilberry. Do we even have room for the 285 pound 6’3 Bailey? Sure, you can never have enough depth, right? But to use a third round on a possible third stringer seems high, doesn’t it? Unless….
More after the jump…
You move Shaun Smith back to NT (the position he played before he got to the Chiefs). After five rounds passed and the Chiefs still did not select a big true NT, I thought that this is what the Chiefs would have to do (move Smith to NT). When they selected the big NT Jerell Powe in the sixth round, I thought they should still do it, especially with DE Bailey now on the roster.
Many draft pundits have said that Allen Bailey is an elite athlete who has great strength and explosiveness. (Did anyone say that when Tyson Jackson came out?). He needs some NFL reps to mature and excel. He can’t get those reps at DE if we have to give them to Jackson, and Gilberry, (who also need those reps to mature and excel). He is not going to get them at an OLB position with “Football Demigod” Tamba Hali on one end and Andy Studebaker, Justin Houston, and Gabe Miller fighting it out on the other (let alone our other LBs trying to make the team).
Even with Jerell Powe in the mix we still have depth issues at NT. Ron Edwards, Anthony Toribio and now Jerell Powe are all we have, and I don’t think that is enough. Ron Edwards, (although he has given us his blood sweat and tears for the last couple of years), is average at best, Anthony Toribio is a third stringer, Jerell Powe is an unknown with great potential, Shaun Smith is battle tested and a nasty son of a bitch. So you see; it makes perfect since to move Shaun Smith back to NT. (Yes, I know that he is not under contract, but I would be shocked if he was not re-signed, wouldn’t you). Doing so allows more reps for Jackson, Gilberry and Bailey to develop. Reps that will be very important for the future of the Kansas City Chiefs.