John Dorsey's fingerprints remain on Chiefs' success as much as Brett Veach's

There's very little doubt that Brett Veach has been a fantastic general manager for the Kansas City Chiefs since he became the successor to John Dorsey following his dismissal before the 2018 season.

Since then, the Chiefs have won two Super Bowls in five years and have been on one of the most successful runs in NFL history by hosting five straight AFC Championships in that same time span. That much success in a very condensed time frame is unprecedented and most of the credit has gone to general manager Brett Veach, who has been in his post for both Super Bowl victories.

Veach deserves that credit for making the complimentary moves necessary to achieve the ultimate goal of winning a Super Bowl. He also stepped into a tricky situation where the defense needed a massive overhaul and there was little wiggle room in the financial department to get it done.

However, truth be told, the foundation of this team then and to this day was built by former general manager John Dorsey. The facts are that Veach inherited a team from Dorsey that was already on the rise and well on its way to becoming a contender with the pieces that were in place.

John Dorsey and Brett Veach both deserve significant recognition for success of KC Chiefs.

So, why do I bring this up now? Well, I came across this tweet that questioned why people would "cape for John Dorsey" for drafting Mahomes when he drafted Baker Mayfield on the Cleveland Browns not long after. The poster would go on to mention John Dorsey had some "legendary hits" but that he also drafted a lot of "non-contributors" in his point about Dorsey getting credit over Veach for drafting Mahomes.

I found this discourse to be quite interesting regarding Veach versus Dorsey and wanted to break this down. Let's start with this; When you look up and down this roster and look at the totality of this five-year run the Chiefs are on, John Dorsey's fingerprints are on this just as much as Brett Veach's are.

A lot of the Veach versus Dorsey debate begins with the drafting of Mahomes. Depending on who you ask, Veach was the one who lobbied for Mahomes and was the entire reason he was drafted. Others will say it was all John Dorsey. The way I see it, Veach was very likely involved in the process of getting people within the Chiefs organization to pay attention to Mahomes. That said, Dorsey was still the guy calling the shots at the time and he was the one who executed the trade up from pick 27 to pick 10 in the 2017 NFL Draft to select Mahomes.

Regardless, Dorsey played an integral role in getting Mahomes here. To discredit Dorsey by pointing out the fact he drafted Baker Mayfield in Cleveland is unfair. Mayfield was the consensus No. 1 overall pick and just because Dorsey selected him doesn't necessarily mean it was the wrong selection either. Situations can make or break a quarterback's career and Mayfield went to a pretty poor situation in Cleveland while Mahomes went to one of the best situations in the league. Simply stating that Dorsey drafted Baker Mayfield and insinuating Mayfield was a bust so that somehow equals "bad pick, Dorsey" is oversimplifying it.

Furthermore, you cannot oversimplify and downplay John Dorsey's drafting as a whole by saying "He had a handful of legendary hits. But his drafts were filled mostly with non-contributors/under performers". A few legendary hits? Very few general managers can even say they've even had "a legendary hit". You can't just shrug off the fact that Dorsey brought several hall of famers to Kansas City in his time at general manager. How does that not carry significantly more weight to one who is evaluating Dorsey's drafting?

Has Dorsey had his fair share of bad picks or questionable draft classes? Absolutely. Dorsey was no cap wizard like Veach is viewed or the easiest personality to work with, but his drafting pedigree cannot be questioned whatsoever.

If you're going to sit there and name off every single failed Dorsey draft pick, you also have to be willing to do the same with Veach. Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Breeland Speaks, Dorian O'Daniel, Tre'mon Smith, Darwin Thompson, Armani Watts, Khalil McKenzie, Joshua Kaindoh, etc. We can play that game all day.

If you honestly compare Veach's drafting to Dorsey's it's not even close. Dorsey has drafted more Hall of Famers. In fact, you can't even say Veach has drafted anyone on a HOF trajectory yet. It could still happen, but we know of at least four HOF players that Dorsey's selected: Travis Kelce, Tyreek Hill, Chris Jones, and Patrick Mahomes. If you just made a list of Both Dorsey's and Veach's five best picks, nobody that Veach selected comes close to the top of Dorsey's list. Dorsey never had any complete duds of a class either like Veach's 2018 draft where the only notable selection was Derrick Nnadi in the third round.

Dorsey also selected left tackle Eric Fisher, a stalwart left tackle for many years No. 1 overall in one of the worst drafts in recent memory and found a diamond in the rough in All-Pro right tackle Mitchell Schwartz after he was tossed to the side by the Cleveland Browns. That Kareem Hunt guy was pretty good there for a minute, too.

Again, say what you want about Dorsey's cap management or his relationship with the Chiefs organization. There are valid criticisms to be laid at the feet of Dorsey, but his eye for talent shouldn't be questioned.

As far as cap management even goes, Dorsey wasn't great at it, but we also can't act like Veach hasn't had his own financial mishaps in his time with Kansas City. You could actually argue that Veach handed out the worst contract between the two of them in Frank Clark. Veach also made Anthony Hitchens and Sammy Watkins two of the highest paid players at their position at different points. We also don't know what kind of cap maneuvers Dorsey could have made to correct his mistakes in the future because he didn't get a chance to do so. Veach at least got the chance to do that with some of his bad contracts.

Ultimately, both Dorsey and Veach deserve a lot of credit for building the team that has gone on such a successful run. A perfect way to describe it would be like saying John Dorsey built the foundation of a dream house and put together the bare bones of the house before leaving it empty inside, while Brett Veach painted the walls, added the furniture, and made it look complete.

When you look at the core foundational pieces of this team and the main reasons why they're competing for Super Bowls and have already won two of them, that is John Dorsey's work. Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, and Chris Jones. John Dorsey. If any of those guys go down, Kansas City isn't winning anything. Even the players that were brought in through the Tyreek Hill trade can be traced back to John Dorsey. His DNA is all over this dynasty in the making.

Veach has done a tremendous job finding depth at key places and retaining the talent that Dorsey brought in to begin with. His willingness to make the tough moves that are unpopular among fans and move forward with his philosophy were instrumental in helping the Chiefs win their second in five years.

It's silly to waste any more time debating who is better or who deserves more credit. There's no reason to slight Dorsey who is one of the better general managers the Chiefs have ever had. There are no Super Bowls in Kansas City without the contributions of John Dorsey. In all honesty, he probably doesn't get enough credit for the job he did.