I HOPE SCOTT PIOLI IS PAYING ATENTION
I've been harping for months on the state of the Chiefs' roster, about the lack of NFL-caliber depth. The big football boss at One Arrowhead Drive, Scott Pioli, promised to do a better job at the Romeo Crennel press conference Monday. With all due respect, I hope he's paying attention here, he has a lot of work ahead of him. Here's my "To Do list" for Mr. Pioli.
1. Allow Romeo Crennel to choose his own coordinators & assistant coaches. It's not a necessity they have a Patriot connection, someone outside the box isn't necessarily a bad thing.
2. You & Clark Hunt need to get on the same page as to how much of the 2012 salary cap the team is actually willing to spend. We're hoping it's at least 95%. No more $25 million surplus like the past two years. That won't cut it anymore if you expect to fill Arrowhead Stadium again during your reign as general manager.
3. I won't insult your football intelligence, you know the problem positions, but I'll spell it out for the non-Chiefs fans. Right tackle, tight end depth(2), running back, safety(2), guard, left defensive end, nose tackle, quarterback & inside linebacker all could use major upgrades with NFL-caliber players. One more thing, if you have an NFL quality offensive tackle like say...Jared Gaither, don't let him go to another team in the AFC West. Gaither started 5 games for the Chargers, surrendering one sack while playing every offensive snap. Not a good move when you're desperate for the position.
4. Sign Dwayne Bowe & Brandon Carr before they become unrestricted free agents. Making Bowe the "Franchise Player" is permissible.
5. Other roster players who should be resigned include RB Jackie Battle, DE Wallace Gilberry, NT Amon Gordon, RB Le'Ron McClain & ILB Jovan Belcher. I see all five as backup players in the future. One of the biggest questions surround QB Kyle Orton. I don't know that he's better than Matt Cassel, but I do know he's different from Cassel & that could be a good thing. I also know he's way better than Tyler Palko & unless they plan to draft another quarterback, Orton may be the best option. The problem is he might want to move on to a better situation on another team.
6. Take a real run at one or both of the following free agents. Nose tackle Paul Soliai of the Dolphins & DE Calais Campbell of Arizona. That $25 million you didn't spend either of past two years comes into play right here. Impact players not warm bodies. Real effective NFL impact players is what is needed to boost this roster into the top third of the league. These two are exactly the type of player I'm talking about.
7. A few other possible candidates include Carolina TE Greg Olson, San Diego RB Mike Tolbert & G Carl Nicks of the Saints.
8. There is no place for the following players on next years roster. Tight ends Anthony Becht, Jake O'Connell & Leonard Pope. RB Thomas Jones, safeties Sabby Piscatelli & Jon McGraw, QB Tyler Palko, C Casey Weigmann, NT Kelly Gregg, WR Jeherme Urban, CB Donald Washington, OT Barry Richardson, OL Steve Maneri & NT Anthony Toribio. If any of these guys are in camp this August it's not good.
9. Now, to the draft. Lose this belief really good offensive linemen can be had later in the draft. Your old team, the Patriots have three offensive tackles who were drafted in the first round(2) & second round. If it works for them, I'm amazed you wouldn't want to copy it. Without knowing what signings occurred in the free agency period, it's very tough to know who to tell you I'm wild about 3-months before the draft. I happen to be very big on Stanford tackle Jonathan Martin & he could very well be there when we pick. Others I like in the 2nd & 3rd rounds include TE Coby Fleener also from Stanford, RB Doug Martin & safety George Iloka, both from Boise State, nose tackle Alameda Ta'amu & RB Chris Polk, both from Washington. In rounds 4-7, a few prospects I like include WR's Marvin McNutt of Iowa & Joe Adams from Arkansas, OG Brandon Brooks from Miami(OH), ILB Audie Cole & TE George Bryan, both from N.C.State.
10. So what's my off-season dream scenario?
Make Al Saunders offensive coordinator & Mel Tucker defensive coordinator.
Commit to use 98% of all salary cap funds.
Sign current players Bowe, Carr, Belcher, Gordon, Gilberry, Battle & McClain.
Sign unrestricted free agents Calais Campbell & TE Greg Olson.
Draft OT Jonathan Martin, NT Alameda Ta'amu, RB Doug Martin, S Goerge Iloka, G Brandon Brooks & TE George Bryan.
Stop trying to reinvent the wheel, quality players cost money. Signing warm bodies will no longer be permitted. Plucking another Tom Brady with the 199th pick is basically not going to happen again in your lifetime, so if you want a high impact player, either pay for them in free agency or draft them with a premium pick. When you make a bad pick, cut your losses & move on. Don't keep hoping they'll all of a sudden blossom into a solid NFL starter, 3-4 seasons is long enough to wait for their development.
I'm realistic enough to know just throwing money at free agents will not get them to play for Kansas City if they don't want to play there. But there are always excellent players at bargain prices, you just have to convince some of them to come play for the Chiefs.
Don D. reminded me yesterday after reading about the anniversary of "The Catch" that it was 42-years ago yesterday the Chiefs won Super Bowl IV. Thanks for the email, like Don, I was around for that joyous occasion, in fact I was a senior in high school & we went down for the celebration at the Liberty Memorial the next day after the team returned from New Orleans. I desperately want to experience that excitement one more time before I check out, can we take a sincere shot at that Mr. Pioli? Can we huh, can we?
1. Allow Romeo Crennel to choose his own coordinators & assistant coaches. It's not a necessity they have a Patriot connection, someone outside the box isn't necessarily a bad thing.
2. You & Clark Hunt need to get on the same page as to how much of the 2012 salary cap the team is actually willing to spend. We're hoping it's at least 95%. No more $25 million surplus like the past two years. That won't cut it anymore if you expect to fill Arrowhead Stadium again during your reign as general manager.
3. I won't insult your football intelligence, you know the problem positions, but I'll spell it out for the non-Chiefs fans. Right tackle, tight end depth(2), running back, safety(2), guard, left defensive end, nose tackle, quarterback & inside linebacker all could use major upgrades with NFL-caliber players. One more thing, if you have an NFL quality offensive tackle like say...Jared Gaither, don't let him go to another team in the AFC West. Gaither started 5 games for the Chargers, surrendering one sack while playing every offensive snap. Not a good move when you're desperate for the position.
4. Sign Dwayne Bowe & Brandon Carr before they become unrestricted free agents. Making Bowe the "Franchise Player" is permissible.
5. Other roster players who should be resigned include RB Jackie Battle, DE Wallace Gilberry, NT Amon Gordon, RB Le'Ron McClain & ILB Jovan Belcher. I see all five as backup players in the future. One of the biggest questions surround QB Kyle Orton. I don't know that he's better than Matt Cassel, but I do know he's different from Cassel & that could be a good thing. I also know he's way better than Tyler Palko & unless they plan to draft another quarterback, Orton may be the best option. The problem is he might want to move on to a better situation on another team.
6. Take a real run at one or both of the following free agents. Nose tackle Paul Soliai of the Dolphins & DE Calais Campbell of Arizona. That $25 million you didn't spend either of past two years comes into play right here. Impact players not warm bodies. Real effective NFL impact players is what is needed to boost this roster into the top third of the league. These two are exactly the type of player I'm talking about.
7. A few other possible candidates include Carolina TE Greg Olson, San Diego RB Mike Tolbert & G Carl Nicks of the Saints.
8. There is no place for the following players on next years roster. Tight ends Anthony Becht, Jake O'Connell & Leonard Pope. RB Thomas Jones, safeties Sabby Piscatelli & Jon McGraw, QB Tyler Palko, C Casey Weigmann, NT Kelly Gregg, WR Jeherme Urban, CB Donald Washington, OT Barry Richardson, OL Steve Maneri & NT Anthony Toribio. If any of these guys are in camp this August it's not good.
9. Now, to the draft. Lose this belief really good offensive linemen can be had later in the draft. Your old team, the Patriots have three offensive tackles who were drafted in the first round(2) & second round. If it works for them, I'm amazed you wouldn't want to copy it. Without knowing what signings occurred in the free agency period, it's very tough to know who to tell you I'm wild about 3-months before the draft. I happen to be very big on Stanford tackle Jonathan Martin & he could very well be there when we pick. Others I like in the 2nd & 3rd rounds include TE Coby Fleener also from Stanford, RB Doug Martin & safety George Iloka, both from Boise State, nose tackle Alameda Ta'amu & RB Chris Polk, both from Washington. In rounds 4-7, a few prospects I like include WR's Marvin McNutt of Iowa & Joe Adams from Arkansas, OG Brandon Brooks from Miami(OH), ILB Audie Cole & TE George Bryan, both from N.C.State.
10. So what's my off-season dream scenario?
Make Al Saunders offensive coordinator & Mel Tucker defensive coordinator.
Commit to use 98% of all salary cap funds.
Sign current players Bowe, Carr, Belcher, Gordon, Gilberry, Battle & McClain.
Sign unrestricted free agents Calais Campbell & TE Greg Olson.
Draft OT Jonathan Martin, NT Alameda Ta'amu, RB Doug Martin, S Goerge Iloka, G Brandon Brooks & TE George Bryan.
Stop trying to reinvent the wheel, quality players cost money. Signing warm bodies will no longer be permitted. Plucking another Tom Brady with the 199th pick is basically not going to happen again in your lifetime, so if you want a high impact player, either pay for them in free agency or draft them with a premium pick. When you make a bad pick, cut your losses & move on. Don't keep hoping they'll all of a sudden blossom into a solid NFL starter, 3-4 seasons is long enough to wait for their development.
I'm realistic enough to know just throwing money at free agents will not get them to play for Kansas City if they don't want to play there. But there are always excellent players at bargain prices, you just have to convince some of them to come play for the Chiefs.
Don D. reminded me yesterday after reading about the anniversary of "The Catch" that it was 42-years ago yesterday the Chiefs won Super Bowl IV. Thanks for the email, like Don, I was around for that joyous occasion, in fact I was a senior in high school & we went down for the celebration at the Liberty Memorial the next day after the team returned from New Orleans. I desperately want to experience that excitement one more time before I check out, can we take a sincere shot at that Mr. Pioli? Can we huh, can we?
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