Thursday, May 1, 2008
The Kansas City Chiefs had a great draft. That’s correct, you did not misread. The Kansas City Chiefs, the same team that drafted busts in Ryan Sims, Trazelle Jenkins and Junior Siavii in the past, showed the other teams how successful a draft weekend could be.
This was unprecedented. It was like David Spade winning the Oscar for Best Actor, MTV coming out with meaningful television or Mike Tyson being named “humanitarian of the year.” The Chiefs went into the draft as an aging team with a questionable future and fans cancelling season tickets, and they left the draft with renewed optimism and talks of Super Bowl contention in three years.
Herm Edwards, Chiefs coach, and Carl Peterson, Chiefs president/general manager and CEO, began the draft on thin ice. Edwards turned a high-powered offense into an abomination. He ran down Larry Johnson with a 416-carry season, said goodbye to several veteran offensive linemen without having designated replacements and turned an aerial attack into an offense with the same entertainment value as an ant farm. Peterson is 19 years into a five-year plan to turn the Chiefs into contenders, and Chiefs fans have been calling for his head for years.
That all changed during the weekend. Suddenly, Edwards was a shrewd rebuilder, and Peterson was an unmatched negotiator.
The draft immediately started with success, with defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey somehow dropping to pick No. 5. Dorsey was considered by many teams to be the top prospect in the draft. Taking advantage of the other teams’ ill-advised decisions, the Chiefs found the anchor of their defense for years to come. The franchise regarded the 299-pound tackle from Louisiana State University as a savior after it witnessed him overcome injuries to dominate at the college level. He can not only get to the quarterback himself but free up blockers for the defensive ends, which will be instrumental without the presence of All-Pro defensive end Jared Allen.
Ten picks later, Peterson saw his favorite offensive lineman still on the board. He traded up two spots with the Detriot Lions, giving up a fifth rounder and switching spots in the third, to obtain the 15th pick and use it on Branden Albert, the combo guard/tackle from Virginia. The Chiefs expect him to be the left tackle on a line that last year would have had trouble keeping a senior citizen with a cane from sacking the quarterback. In many mock drafts, draft “experts” thought the Chiefs would pick Albert at five.
The good fortune did not end in the first round. At pick 35 in the second round, they were thrilled to see that Brandon Flowers was still on the board. Flowers, a cornerback out of Virginia Tech, was graded by the Chiefs as a first-round prospect. The Chiefs let Ty Law go this offseason after a down year, and Benny Sapp was signed by the Vikings, so there was a hole as big as the Grand Canyon in their secondary. Jayhawk fans can remember Flowers as the player who anchored the Virginia Tech defense that tested Kansas in the Orange Bowl. He will immediately be thrust into the starting role.
After the first day was over, there was not an analyst anywhere with negative things to say. Mel Kiper Jr., a famous draft pundit, said the Chiefs had the best draft of any team the first day.
The second day was not a let down, either. With three picks in the third round, the Chiefs added Texas’ Jamaal Charles as a backup running back to give Larry Johnson much-needed relief; Brad Cottam, a 6-foot-8 tight end out of Tennessee, to be the understudy to future Hall-of-Famer Tony Gonzalez; and DaJuan Morgan, a safety from North Carolina State who many had ranked as the second best safety in the draft. Charles ran a 4.32 second 40-yard dash and could challenge Speedy Gonzalez in a footrace. Cottam is a towering red-zone threat and Morgan is a fierce tackler.
In the next round, they added Will Franklin, who is familiar to many Jayhawk fans as a receiver from the Missouri Tigers. He should challenge Jeff Webb and Devard Darling to start opposite of last year’s first rounder, Dwayne Bowe. The rest of the draft consisted of cornerback Brandon Carr, offensive tackle Barry Richardson, wide receiver Kevin Robinson, defensive end Brian Johnston and tight end Michael Merritt — all players who should be on the roster come opening day.
The Chiefs should not expect the playoffs this year, as they have an inexperienced team that has to adjust to NFL speed. However, with the talent amassed over the weekend, Kansas City should be competitive in all games rather than resembling a group of confused Boy Scouts who were thrown onto a football field. While they may not experience a winning season this year, it should be entertaining to watch our talented rookies develop into potential Pro Bowlers. It has been a while since Chiefs fans could say that.
— Edited by Katherine Loeck
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