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NFL Draft preview: Kansas City Chiefs
The Kansas City Chiefs have been experiencing some growing pains the past few seasons.
2009 was the first year with rookie head Coach Todd Haley, as well as the first year with new front office personnel, led by general manager Scott Pioli. I don't care if you're a pop-warner team or an NFL franchise, merely changing the head coach has a huge impact on the day-to-day operations of any football team. So you can begin to imagine the impact when most of the front office of a multi-million dollar operation changes in the same year as its head coach. Growing pains.
The Chiefs fielded one of the NFL's youngest teams a year ago. And it showed. While KC did improve from 2008 to 2009 (2-14 in 2008 to 4-12 in 2009), fans were left thinking of what could have been. Six of the Chiefs twelve losses were by seven points or less. Seemingly, the biggest obstacle the Chiefs young core of players had was the inability to perform at a consistent level throughout the entirety of a game, much less a season. Young, talented players need maturation. Maturation takes time. All that young talent was able to keep Kansas City in the game, but wasn't able to close those games out. Growing pains.
Before the start of the 2009 season, Kansas City's new front office made a big splash by trading for New England quarterback Matt Cassel. Then, before Cassel ever threw a pass as a Chief, front office personnel signed the life long back-up to a 6 year, $63 million contract; making the Southern California graduate the third highest paid quarterback in the league. In Cassel's first full year as a starter, he completed just 55% of his passes (27th among quarterbacks who averaged at least 14 pass attempts per game), and threw as many interceptions (16) as touchdowns. Growing pains.
KC has had a top five draft pick each of the previous two drafts. They spent both of those picks on defensive linemen. Their defense allowed just under 27 points a game a year ago. Good enough for 29th best in a league of 32 teams. Growing pains.
The offense though, wasn't much better. The Chiefs checked in at number 23, averaging 18.4 points a game. Freakin' growing pains.
So how do the Chiefs get through these growing pains and begin to win more games?
I believe it all starts up front. The Chiefs have already invested quite a bit in the aforementioned defensive line draft picks (Glenn Dorsey and Tyson Jackson, respectively). KC also signed veteran defensive tackle Shaun Smith this off-season, which the team helps will fill a void in the middle of that 3-4. It's unlikely that KC will invest more into the front three on defense with this early of a pick.
The defense also needs to find someone that can rush the quarterback off the edge from the linebacking position. This first round pick won't be spent on a linebacker, but there should be some quality guys in rounds 2-4 that the Chiefs could pick up.
The secondary really needs to be looked at for the Chiefs' defense to improve. A lot of people seem to be clamoring for safety Eric Berry from Tennessee. While Berry is projected to do very well in the league, and the Chiefs desperately need to upgrade their safety positions, it is highly unlikely the Chiefs will spend a top five pick on a safety when there are other positions that are of much more importance. Additionally, it's well documented that safeties aren't worth a top five draft pick.
So that brings us to the offensive side of the ball. For better or worse, the Chiefs have their "franchise quarterback" (even though he's currently only being paid like one, not playing like one). I believe Cassel does have a shot (how big, I'm not real sure) at becoming the signal caller KC hopes he can be. So quarterback is off the table.
They're not drafting a running back. The Chiefs like what they've found in Jamaal Charles, and signing Thomas Jones solidified that they're not looking at using an early pick on someone that will play in the offensive backfield.
KC has a number one wide receiver in Dwayne Bowe. He's one of those young guys with all the talent in the world i was referring to earlier. Bowe needs to become more consistent and needs to buy into the Todd Haley regime for him to see that talent realized into results on the field. Chris Chambers can be a great number two guy if he gives maximum effort. That is a big "if" though. Either way, the Chiefs aren't looking to draft a receiver this early on.
That brings us to the offensive line. The Chiefs spent a first round pick on tackle Branden Albert in 2008. Albert hasn't come along as quickly as the Chiefs would hope, but has shown signs of improvement, particularly in the second half of the 2009 season. Brian Waters, a long respected veteran along the Chiefs o-line, is adamant in his belief that Albert should remain a left tackle, and that moving him now would ruin any progress he may have made the past two seasons. Many prognosticators have the Chiefs selecting another offensive tackle with the number five pick this spring, thinking that Albert is not cut out to carry the load at left tackle. I don't think you can completely give up on Albert at left tackle just yet, but I do believe that the Chiefs need to infuse more talent and depth along their o-line, and should use this pick to draft another tackle.
You can never have too many athletic offensive linemen. Plus, the Chiefs are aging up front. Brian Waters is 33 and the newly signed Casey Wiegmann is 36. How much more do they have left in the tank? This is why you pick an offensive tackle if you're Kansas City. If Trent Williams turns out to be franchise left tackle, then selecting him and moving Albert to guard or right tackle solves two problems with one pick, which isn't all that bad.
The Chiefs, of course, could select another tackle other than Williams. If Oklahoma State's Russel Okung is still on the board, the Chiefs will undoubtedly take him. If not, I believe that it will be between Williams and Iowa's Brian Bulaga. In the KSPR Mock Draft, Okung and Bulaga were already off the board when the Chiefs were selecting at number five, so I chose Williams.
