Kansas City Chiefs: Is John Dorsey Eyeing WR Torrey Smith?
By Brett Gering
Oct 12, 2014; Tampa, FL, USA; Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Torrey Smith (82) works out prior to the game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Obviously, the Kansas City Chiefs need help at wide receiver. Torrey Smith is a free agent who’s good at catching passes—sign him and everything is right in the world, correct?
Eh.
ESPN’s John Clayton recently claimed that the Chiefs will not only target Smith but keep Dwayne Bowe and draft his potential replacement.
Here’s the thing: The NFL isn’t the MLB. You can’t go on some Kardashian-like spending spree, charge it to the game and walk out like Money Mike.
The Chiefs are struggling just to get Justin Houston re-signed. Once that’s in the bag, Rodney Hudson will serve as the sequel, and the team still has to clear space for its heap of draft picks.
Taking it a step further, if you’re Torrey Smith, are you drooling to sign with a West Coast offense that rarely stretches the field?
Like Clayton, I think the Chiefs will still try to retain Bowe. If anything, they’ll likely ask him to take a (justifiable) pay cut. Say what you want about him, but a West Coast passing attack is built for big-bodied wideouts who double as capable route-runners, and Bowe remains exactly that.
While inking Smith, Jeremy Maclin and the like sounds incredible on paper, you still need someone—within Kansas City’s kind of offense, at least—who’s going to box out corners and drag them past the marker on 3rd-and-8.
A talent like Da’Rick Rogers can do that, but he’s still an unproven commodity.
None of this means that John Dorsey won’t meet with Smith and potentially sign him. But there’s no sense in crossing a bridge before you come to it, and in this particular case, there’s no shortage of hurdles along the way—let’s clear the first of them, Houston’s re-commitment, before we start peaking over the horizon.
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