The Kansas City Crimson Chiefs

Since coach Nick Saban’s Alabama Crimson Tide has won 3 out of the past 4 BCS Championships, perhaps the Kansas City Chiefs could draft a few more of their, gifted and talented, student athletes. The Chiefs already have Javier Arenas and DeQuan Menzie on the roster so they might as well fill their reservoir full of the rolling tide’s best. Then, our favorite football team may became known as the Kansas City Rolling Chiefs.

In the past few years there have been a goodly number of Tidey boys taken high in the NFL draft and when they arrive at the big boy’s barbeque, they usually bring their own fireworks.

After Alabama’s BSC win over the University of Texas following the 2009 football season, LB Rolando McClain was selected 8th overall by the Oakland Raiders. However, things really didn’t begin to heat up for Saban’s slew of slayers, who would be selected in early draft rounds, until the following year.

That next BCS championship was won by, Cam Newton led, Auburn. Following the conclusion of the 2010 season DT Marcell Dareus (#3), WR Julio Jones (#6), OT James Carpenter (#25) and Mark Ingram (#28) were all taken in the first round of the 2011 NFL draft.

Last year, the men in crimson whipped LSU, 21 to nada for the BCS title, and so, in the 2012 NFL draft, there was a rising tide of their players taken early in the draft. RB Trent Richardson was taken 3rd by the Cleveland Browns. Safety Mark Barron was taken 7th by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. DB Dre Kirkpatrick was taken 17th by the Cincinnati Bengals and Dont’a Hightower was nabbed by the Patriots at #25.

Also, LB Courtney Upshaw was taken with the 3rd pick in the second round by the Baltimore Ravens giving Alabama 5 players in the top 35 of last years draft. One Bama boy every seven choices. It’s the  Rule of Seven. How many times does an Alabama graduate have to be drafted in the first rounds before you buy into the realization that you should be drafting one too?

Alabama coach Nick Saban must be doing something right down there.

Doh!

If you had a chance to watch even 5 minutes of the BCS Championship game between Alabama and Notre Dame on January 7th, you would have immediately noticed how much bigger, faster, stronger, quicker and smarter the Tide appeared than their Irish counterparts. And that’s a bit understated. Commentators kept mentioning how many tackles the Irish were missing but, it looked like they actually weren’t capable of making those tackles and were obviously physically outmanned. The final score was 42-14 but… the game wasn’t really that close.

So, if the Chiefs were to consider drafting a bunch of Bama beasts, who might those beasts be?

Alabama doesn’t have (not this year) a first round QB available to take at number one, besides, many Chiefs fans are hoping beyond all hope that they take West Virginia QB, and pigskin magician, Geno Smith first in the draft (from this point forward let the idea of the Chiefs taking Geno Smith first in the draft be known as: hitting the G-spot!).

So, let’s move on to round two.

OT D.J. Fluker (#76, pictured left), who goes 6’6” and 335 lbs, was a 2nd team  AP All-American wooly mammoth who started 36 games and who fits the typical Andy Reid mold of big and brutal linemen. It’s been suggested that he has issues with speed rushers so, if the Chiefs were to take him, he’d perhaps be moved inside to OG to help against some of the larger DTs coming into the league now. Fluker was 6-3 and 400 lbs in 8th grade so he’s now been the biggest loser and the biggest winner. Maybe just the biggest.

Of course if the Chiefs were going to seriously consider focusing on fixing the inside of their OL, they could take an actual 1st team All-American in OG Chance Warmack (#65, pictured right). He stands 6-2 and goes 322. He’s one studly buck who won’t be budged from his spot. He’s rated by many publications as a top 5 prospect even though he’s an offensive “guard.” Go figure. However, Chance Warmack is thought to be the best offensive interior linemen prospect since they made offensive interior linemen. He might be great but, I’d have a conniption if the Chiefs choose a guard over a QB… like Geno Smith … in the top five. BTW, it’s one of my personal goals, to mention Geno Smith, in every post from here until draft day.

However, if the Chiefs don’t take one of them they could also go whamma-slamma-thank-you Bama by taking CB Dee Milliner (#28, pictured left) who is rated by many as a top ten prospect. And yes, he’s that good. He stands 6-1 and weighs 198. Milliner is excellent and would give the Chiefs a dynamite pair of corners along with Brandon Flowers. Recently, Milliner was talking about covering Megatron (WR Calvin Johnson of the Detroit Lions) in the future and said,

"Like I said, anytime you play this position, you’ve got to have confidence that you can stop anybody you line up against…. Hopefully you can control him (Calvin Johnson)."

Pretty ballsy stuff. Of course, left out, was the part where he says Johnson is “pretty much unstoppable” but, his comment is still rife with the confidence of a proven winner. That’s a bit of the point with regards to Alabama players: their winning tradition has taken hold for so long now that all of their players “expect” to win and have the engrained schemata to help make that happen.

Alabama also has an Australian born DT named Jesse Williams (#54, pictured right) who goes 6-3 and 320. He has a Mohawk and the mojo to match. Williams would be, by far, the most colorful player the Chiefs have had since Jared Allen. He typically lines up over the Center and you’ll find his mojo rising vs Tennessee in 2012 right here. You’ll enjoy the third play of this vid when Williams fights off a double-team then goes and makes the stop on the RB just behind the original line of scrimmage. He looks like the love-child of Kelly Gregg and Brian Bosworth (an obscure 80s reference, meaning, you’d probably have to be from the 80s to fully appreciate the comment’s ability to induce a gag-reflex). Don’t worry, he plays more like a young Kelly Gregg than the overrated Boz. Here’s a great little report from an Australia news service about the former rugby player’s contribution to the BCS championship game.

If you don’t care to take a Bama grad in the first round, how about the ever versatile Barrett Jones (#75, pictured left) in the second round. Barrett Jones played Guard in his freshman/sophomore years, switched to Tackle as a Junior and then played Center as a senior. Jones is also one smart cookie graduating with a degree in accounting, summa cum laude, with a 4.0 grade point average. The same way a great catcher can improve a pitcher’s performance in baseball, the Center can help the QB in football, even if it’s to a lesser degree. I don’t know where 6-2, 299, Rodney Hudson is at in his rehabilitation process but, Jones stands 6-4 and weighs 305 and is largely considered to be the best Center prospect in this draft. Since we now know a Center can get injured during the season (all homage to Casey Wiegmann) it would not be a bad idea to have depth at that position.

ILB Nico Johnson (#35, pictured right) is a not-ready-for-prime-time-player in the NFL but, would make a terrific understudy there and if he’s available in the 4th or 5th round then the Chiefs should bag that Bama brute. Johnson goes 6-1, 245 and for some reason keeps his pads too upright and allows blockers to get their pads lower than his, into his chest and chop block his legs any time they choose. He’s not much of a “bender.” However, Andy Reid is a good teacher and Nico Johnson has all the physical tools so, in the meantime, he’d make a great special teams player.

Jan 7, 2013; Miami, FL, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide running back Eddie Lacy (42) runs with the ball against Notre Dame Fighting Irish linebacker Manti Te

There’s also second round prospect RB Eddie Lacy (#42, pictured left) who was the most beastly beast of all in the BCS Championship which resulted in his being named MVP in college football’s biggest game of all. I doubt the Chiefs will re-sign Peyton Hillis so, if they drafted Lacy and paired him with Jamaal Charles the Chiefs would be set at RB for many years. Most fan were supportive of Charles receiving all the carries he could take but I, was not. The platoon system the Chiefs used in the first half of 2010 with JC and Thomas Jones, when Jones was still effective, was the ideal. It would preserve both Charles and Lacy’s careers at RB and ultimately wear down defenses more easily. It would also give the new OC, Doug Pederson, more flexibility if he wanted to use JC exclusively or balance it more between the two backs, based on which kind of defense they were facing that week.

You see, there are many ways for the Chiefs to wax Bama-licious in this year’s draft. If it’s possible, I’d like to see it happen. Bring some of that championship magic… and attitude… here to K.C.. Please.

Roll Chiefs Roll!