Season ends and Chiefs offseason questions begin
By Brandon Fry
The Chiefs haven’t had this much talent in a long time to possibly lose several free agents but that comes with the territory of building a good football team. Kansas City is in company with other teams like Denver who have to make several hard decisions and hope to fill holes in the roster with cheaper free agents and good draft picks.
When you look at the roster just the year before John Dorsey and Andy Reid came to Kansas City it would make you shiver. Let’s just take a peak, an offense led by Matt Cassel throwing to receivers like Dwayne Bowe and Steve Breaston. One of the major offseason pickups that year was right tackle Eric Winston, let that sink in for a moment.
A defense with Javier Arenas starting at corner and Kendrick Lewis at Free Safety. On the defensive line they had run-stuffers like Tyson Jackson and Ropati Pitoitua. A defense that was far from talented and not many starters (six) on that team are impact players in the league today.
Clark Hunt in a recent interview before the Super Bowl alluded to the same things in that the Chiefs are indeed going the right direction under Dorsey and Reid, per Adam Teicher of ESPN.
"“We do feel very, very good about where the team is,’’ Hunt said. “We’re disappointed not to be playing this weekend. We do believe we have a team that was capable of doing it. It’s probably a good reminder of how important it is to win the division and to get one of those byes. I think some of the injuries we had in the last game of the season up in New England impacted the team, and if you get that bye you get the chance to get those guys healthy. “I do think we have a lot of the ingredients that you need in order to make it to the Super Bowl, namely a great head coach and his coaching staff, a quality quarterback and a tough defense. I think we have those ingredients and we have a lot of players who are entering the prime of their careers, and hopefully we’ll be playing in Super Bowl 51 next year.’’"
Hunt also commented on the challenge entering free agency.
"“Free agency and the [salary] cap are a challenge each year,’’ Hunt said. “We have a number of free agents this year, important players. We are in pretty good cap shape, maybe the best cap shape we’ve been in for a few years. Certainly getting those players re-signed is going to be a big priority for us here over the next couple of months.’’"
Clark’s right, there’s important players that are free agents and if this off-season isn’t handled the right way we could see a team that’s been on a successful path derail. No pressure guys.
That’s what’s on my mind, Addicts. What’s on yours?