Chiefs Making Moves That Matter
By Laddie Morse
More than a month ago, while anticipating one of my favorite days of the Chiefs calendar year, Cut Down Day, I thought the Chiefs would go for an experienced offensive lineman, and felt that was pretty much all a fan could hope for. But wow! Did GM John Dorsey and HC Andy Reid blow that day out of the water?!
From the moment they announced their “right 53” you could see they thought something was still very “wrong” with that group and went about trading or replacing 7 of them: Edgar Jones, Jerrell Powe, Devon Wylie, Bradley McDougald, Zac Diles, Jalil Brown, and Kevin Brock.
It’s not so much that these were the “wrong” players for the Chiefs but a question of whether or not there were players out there (made available because of the 53 man cutdown mandate) who were:
1. simply better or,
2. who were a more appropriate fit the Chiefs scheme or,
3. who were more of a “known quantity” by coaches or the GM.
My first take was to consider the possible negative interpersonal effects those changes could have on the remaining players and team dynamics just 7 days before opening day.
Then I began to see some other connections that weren’t at first apparent.