It’s hard to watch these veterans leave the Kansas City Chiefs

Business decisions have to be made, but here’s why it’s hard for fans to see longtime veterans of the Kansas City Chiefs leave.

I have been a diehard Kansas City Chiefs‘ fan for almost 20 years now. Like every longtime fan, I have been through a lot of ups and downs and, in that time, the Chiefs’ organization has seen many, many players come and go. Given how poor the team was for such a long time, turnover from year to year was usually high.

A few gifted players remained in place, however, throughout a great majority of the team’s down years—names like Derrick Johnson, Tamba Hali, Jamaal Charles, and Dwayne Bowe, just to name a few. This is a reflection on those players, who didn’t always win but came out to play every game for the fans.

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It was those players that gave the fans something to watch. The team as a whole was terrible, with multiple 2-14 and 4-12 seasons in a six-year span. The organization was still struggling to get back on its feet after the death of an aging owner. This is actually relatively common in sports, for teams to struggle when an owner passes. We’re lucky that Clark Hunt has finally figured it out. For a long time, though, he didn’t.

The diehard fans stuck around. We did so to watch jaw-dropping, 90-yard sprints through a gauntlet of flying defenders by Jamaal Charles. Even during 2012’s abysmal campaign, Charles gave Chiefs’ fans something to marvel at. It seemed like every time he touched the ball we might see something extraordinary. Often times, he delivered.

We witnessed epic tackles, interceptions, and pass breakups by Eric Berry. While he became the face of our defense during the Andy Reid era, his leadership was apparent long before Big Red came to town. Iron is sharpened in the fire, and you could argue Berry’s leadership came to define him through those tough seasons, where he lost far more than he won.

We were front and center for bone-shattering sacks by Tamba Hali and Justin Houston. Hali had many great games for the Chiefs, but one of my favorite memories is his three-sack performance against the Green Bay Packers in 2011, which helped lead our team to victory against a then undefeated team. While this wasn’t even close to a playoff team, Hali’s passion was always evident right up to the final whistle.

Houston was a player who began to come into his own during the last years prior to the Andy Reid era. While he didn’t experience quite the hardships on the field of the other three players mentioned, he came to embody the hard work and determination of the new look franchise under Reid. While he was never able to lead the team to the ultimate prize, his heart will never be forgotten.

It’s actually not all about wins and losses. Even though a lot of the veterans that have been jettisoned in the last couple years weren’t always winners, they were all we had. They gave us little flashes of joy when there was not much to be had elsewhere. It’s for this that they’ll always have a special place in Chiefs’ fans’ hearts. It’s for this that they’ll be remembered.