Marcus Peters is a beautiful draft selection. A scrappy kid with a chip on his shoulder — actually, maybe more than one chip — is exactly what we wanted. Peters was the best cornerback in the draft.
The off-the-field issues are a non-issue because Kansas City has the best locker room in the NFL and a coaching staff with a knack for taking “problem children” and turning them into reliable weapons. Kansas City is Peters’ perfect home away from home.
Mitch Morse and Steven Nelson are solid picks, although the former could have probably been picked with the trade up instead of Chris Conley, allowing for a better receiver selection. The Chiefs were not aggressive in this draft in regards to the receiver position. General manager John Dorsey seemed content to sit back and pick at 18th-overall, thinking he would get what Kansas City needs.
Once Dorsey saw all the receivers flying off the board (that we passed in favor of Morse), Dorsey was essentially forced to trade up and pick the last acceptable receiver in the third round. Other than this lack of aggressiveness, the draft was solid.
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Of course, the roster changes didn’t come from just the draft. Dorsey was aggressive in free agency despite not having a bevy of available money. Overall, it is fair to say the free-agency period went better than expected. On defense, Kansas City signed safety Tyvon Branch away from the Oakland Raiders, who is a nice substitute while All-Pro safety Eric Berry is out with cancer treatment.
On offense, the Chiefs traded for two-time, Pro-Bowl guard Ben Grubbs from the New Orleans Saints. Grubbs is probably an upgrade over Mike McGlynn (that was sarcasm, he’s a huge upgrade). Right guard Paul Fanaika was signed after spending a few years with the Arizona Cardinals, and should give second-year guard Zach Fulton some good competition.
Kansas City then pulled a free-agency coup, signing star receiver and former Philadelphia Eagle Jeremy Maclin to a five-year, $55-million deal. Maclin is a PERFECT acquisition for head coach Andy Reid, and for those of you who don’t think the Chiefs had a complement to Maclin outside of Jason Avant and Albert Wilson, you probably don’t realize that Kansas City signed this guy early in free agency:
So, aside from the questions we all still have about the offensive line, this team is stronger. Last year the Chiefs were good (they beat the Seattle Seahawks and demolished the New England Patriots, for goodness’ sake), but the offensive line was a roadblock, and it didn’t help that our receivers were allergic to the end zone.
All of our returning veterans who were out last year — Derrick Johnson, Mike Devito, Donald Stephenson and Jeff Allen — plus the free-agent acquisitions and draft picks, should take this team to the next level. Kansas City is poised to do the impossible: win a playoff game — something that hasn’t happened since 1993, for those who didn’t know, or weren’t alive when that happened.
I feel entirely confident saying that, yes, the Kansas City Chiefs are a better team after the offseason moves Dorsey and Reid have made.
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